History: To Be Continued.

The article presents information on two books "Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity," by Francis Fukuyama and "Jihad vs. McWorld," by Benjamin R. Barber. "Trust," is 200 pages too long and repeats every point many times. But everyone in a certain milieu will talk about it, because as a crash course in comparative political economy and sociology it enables them to think they know what they're talking about when they chit-chat about lifetime employment in Japan or the high cost of the German welfare state. Barber's book is also one of convergence, but with a difference. He understands that culture is not an abstraction but an economy and, like all economies, comes wrapped in the arms of force and money.