New Book
The creator of the hit podcast series Tides of History and Fall of Rome explores the four explosive decades between 1490 and 1530, bringing to life the dramatic and deeply human story of how the West was reborn. In the bestselling tradition of The Swerve and A Distant Mirror, The Verge tells the story of a period that marked a decisive turning point for both European and world history. Here, author Patrick Wyman examines two complementary and contradictory sides of the same historical coin: the world-altering implications of the developments of printed mass media, extreme taxation, exploitative globalization, humanistic learning, gunpowder warfare, and mass religious conflict in the long term, and their intensely disruptive consequences in the short-term. As told through the lives of ten real people—from famous figures like Christopher Columbus and wealthy banker Jakob Fugger to a ruthless small-time merchant and a one-armed mercenary captain—The Verge illustrates how their lives, and the times in which they lived, set the stage for an unprecedented globalized future. Over an intense forty-year period, the seeds for the so-called “Great Divergence” between Western Europe and the rest of the globe would be planted. From Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic to Martin Luther’s sparking the Protestant Reformation, the foundations of our own, recognizably modern world came into being. Over an intense forty-year period, the seeds for the so-called “Great Divergence” between Western Europe and the rest of the globe would be planted. From Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic to Martin Luther’s sparking the Protestant Reformation, the foundations of our own, recognizably modern world came into being. For the past 500 years, historians, economists, and the policy-oriented have argued which of these individual developments best explains the West’s rise from backwater periphery to global dominance. As The Verge presents it, however, the answer is far more nuanced.
About the Author:
Patrick Wyman holds a PhD in history from the University of Southern California. He previously worked as a sports journalist, covering mixed martial arts and boxing from 2013 to 2018. His work has been featured in Deadspin, The Washington Post, Bleacher Report, and others. He is currently host of the podcast, Tides of History, and previously the host of Fall of Rome.
Patrick Wyman is a historian, host of the Tides of History podcast and author of The Verge.
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The Verge by Patrick Wyman Reviews
“In THE VERGE, Patrick Wyman expertly weaves the story of the birth of modernity. With a masterful gift for storytelling, Wyman connects fascinating individual lives to the massive social changes they unleashed, making THE VERGE as engrossing as it is informative. Wyman takes us from fleets in the Atlantic, to silver mines in Hungary, to wool traders in England, to the richest banks in Europe, clearly illustrating the sophisticated economic, technological, and political forces driving Europe towards global domination. THE VERGE is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the origins of the modern world.” —Mike Duncan, New York Times bestselling author of THE STORM BEFORE THE STORM
“THE VERGE is as engaging as it is erudite, a grand tour of the economic and cultural upheavals that shaped the modern world.”—Zachary D. Carter, New York Times bestselling author of THE PRICE OF PEACE: MONEY, DEMOCRACY, AND THE LIFE OF JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES
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