Rulers, Religion, and Riches
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Rulers, Religion, and Riches
| Full title | Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not |
|---|---|
| Author | Jared Rubin |
| Published | 2017 |
| Pages | 296 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Jared Rubin’s institutional answer to the Great Divergence: it turned on who rulers needed to legitimate them — where religious authorities were the source of legitimacy, commercial interests stayed out of the room where rules were made. Legitimacy, rather than geography or culture. |
Where I heard about it
- Replies to @typesfast — an answer to his question “What’s the best history book you’ve read?” in his thread, June 2025. The full list of answers is on What’s the best history book… (tweet).
Connections
- What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
- Institutions — the mechanism.
- Economic History · Religion — the two literatures it joins.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.