Capitalism: A Global History

In this epic account, Bancroft Prize–winning historian Beckert (Empire of Cotton) charts the rise of the modern global economic order. Capitalism’s emergence represents “a fundamental break in human history,” he writes, one that “turned human relations upside down” and “made revolution a permanent feature of economic life.” He also argues that “capitalism was born global”—emerging as it did from international trade, “it was always a world economy.” Beckert’s global perspective emphasizes the “astounding amount of coercion and violence” employed by the “capitalist revolution” in order to overcome “the enormous resistance from both elites and commoners” around the world. Beckert begins his story in modern-day Yemen in the year 1150, when “a new kind of trader rose to prominence” who “stayed put and traded at a distance.” From there, he traces capitalism’s development through paper money, slavery, and the Industrial Revolution. By the mid-19th century, he argues, capitalism had forced a “global reconstruction” that led to a subsequent century of rebellions and massive warfare. Even during the relatively peaceful post-WWII period of decolonization, “an international order” was constructed to promote capitalism’s “mobility” over the rights of newly independent nations. Today, markets continue to expand into new spaces of human life, as “our very attention has become a commodity.” Ultimately, Beckert furnishes ample evidence that “no imperial or totalitarian project has ever come close to capitalism’s success.” An unparalleled work of scholarship that is also a joy to read, this is a monumental achievement. (Nov.)