Robert Allen's Global Economic History and Robert Marks' The Origins of the Modern World both seek to explain the same phenomenon: the widening "gap" separating the group of developed or rich countries and the rest of the world. But the authors examine this in very different ways. Examine how both authors understand this process. Please address the following questions: Why did the gap begin in one particular location, and at one particular time? What were the consequences of this process? Do the authors agree on these issues? Can you identify at least two significant differences between them, from the perspective of how we think about global history?