In the last chapter of Re-Orient, Frank proudly proclaims the evidence he has presented against the "eurocentric" view "is so abundant and systematic that it empirically invalidates" it (321). I believe the evidence I presented here is substantial enough to call into question his own theory. I have not dealt here in pen-l with Frank's critique of Europe's claimed superiority in science, technology, guns, ships, printing, and financial institutions, a critique which really claims too much - that Asia was superior in these areas until the industrial revolution - but offers too little in historical analysis. But we shouldn't forget that Re-Orient is one part (actually a summation) of a much wider effort which rejects the whole notion of European "uniqueness". Re-Orient presupposes much of this effort, as can be seen in the bibliography, including Amin's *Eurocentrism*; Blaut's *Colonizer's Model*; Goody's *East in the West*; and books by Perlin, Rowe, Wong, Pomeranz, and many others. >From what I read briefly, Goldstone and Pomeranz appear to be searching through a pile of coal to see if they can find the explanation for Britain's industrialization! Frank too takes into consideration the location and comparative costs of inputs like wood/coal. I mean, as Goldstone put it in a post to the world history list last Spring, if "it is difficult to find empirical evidence that sustains a view of an inherently advantaged Europe centuries before industrialization, and that much empirical evidence suggests equality or superiority for Asian societies relative to Europe, as late as 1750", [then we must ask] "the question of what positive theory do we have to account for Europe's eventual emergence (however brief) as `top dog' in this global system...Pomeranz and I both believe easy access to coal by people who needed fuel was crucial". So much trouble for nothing; the answer was under our feet - no earth, no coal, no industrialization! But it is not even that China had no coal but that, as Frank says its "deposits were distant from its possible utilization...so that progressive deforestation still did not make it economical to switch to fuel from wood to coal" (315). In fairness, Goldstone, author of the brillian book, Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World, does add "I believe institutional and cultural shifts c. 1650-1750 were a crucial part of the story."
