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Simone Barbera

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“When Europeans first came to learn of the imperial examination system, they expressed their admiration for it. This was true of Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit missionary who provided one of the earliest and most detailed European accounts of life in China. In later centuries Europeans drew on the Chinese experience as they constructed meritocratic recruitment systems of their own.”
― David Stasavage, The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today

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“Across the broad sweep of human history, societies either were governed autocratically by someone who disposed of a state bureaucracy or had something resembling early democracy where the state was absent, power was decentralized, and their overall size was likely to be small. The idea that one could sustain a democracy in a polity as large as the thirteen American colonies, combined with a central state, was unprecedented”
― David Stasavage, The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today

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“members of the revolutionary battalions – those who fought on the frontline – were more likely to choose their comrades. They felt more fused with their fellow fighters than with their own flesh and blood.”
― Harvey Whitehouse, Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World

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“Unlike systems of household registration in earlier eras, the hukou system is not used as a basis for taxation. Its principal use is instead to maintain order by creating a de facto restriction on freedom of movement—individuals can only receive social benefits in the area where they are registered.”
― David Stasavage, The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today

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“Some groups inevitably suffered more fitness-reducing events – experiences that negatively impacted their ability to survive and pass on their genes. And these were the groups that ended up being more cooperative than those that suffered less. What’s more, these positive effects on cooperativeness were stronger when shared suffering resulted from intergroup conflict than from natural disaster. In short, doing badly made the group pull together more tightly.”
― Harvey Whitehouse, Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World

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Goodreads Librarians Group — 301409 members — last activity 4 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

Goodreads Italia — 24499 members — last activity 1 hour, 11 min ago
Goodreads Italia è un luogo d'incontro per gli utenti italiani e italofoni della piattaforma Goodreads. Il gruppo, nato nel 2010 e in costante evoluz ...more

Correggere&creare — 778 members — last activity 17 hours, 20 min ago
Richieste ferme per smaltimento coda Un gruppo di aiuto per chi, con calma (proverbio reggiano: Stam sò d'adòs), richiede correzioni e/o creazioni di ...more

The History Book Club — 25663 members — last activity 21 hours, 0 min ago
"Interested in history - then you have found the right group". The History Book Club is the largest history and nonfiction group on Goodread ...more

Non Fiction Book Club — 4997 members — last activity 2 minutes ago
This group is for anyone who enjoys Non Fiction. Genres discussed here include Histories, Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, Science and Technolog ...more

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