I have two large problems with Morris’ book and the reception to it. Let’s start with the latter. To quote one of the reviews of the book,
“Morris's success at finding an audience for that big story comes at a time of anxiety about the waning influence of historians, whose work is often hyper-specialized. Kenneth Pomeranz, president of the American Historical Association, recently lamented that "our space in the public sphere has been diminished to the benefit of fields like economics."