This is, unfortunately, a long book, and it has taken too long to write. It began as a claim in a footnote in a previous book that such a thing could be done, at least in principle. For good or ill, it turns out that this thing can also be done in practice.

Besides being too long, this book tramples rather too freely in disciplines and subfields where I am not expert, doubtless making errors along the way that will offend the local specialists. My only defense is the trite hope that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

This wandering over time and space requires some comments on spelling, orthography, and translation. These present tricky problems for which many solutions are possible (see Kann 1974: xiii). For the modern nation-states I use the common English name. For other places, I normally use native names and spelling unless an English or international substitute enjoys wide currency (i.e., Vienna not Wien). This principle also guided my use of Zollverein (Customs Union) for the major German economic union because that name is familiar to the political economy community. In contrast, I used the translation “Tax Union” for the less familiar Steuerverein in North Germany. Where differences are minor, I see no reason not to use the native spelling (Hannover not Hanover, México not Mexico, Perú not Peru, Württemberg not Wurttemberg or Wuerttemberg).