Capitalism

Resumen del libro

No other phenomenon has shaped human history as decisively as capitalism.

It structures how we live and work, how we think about ourselves and others, how we organise our politics. Sven Beckert situates the story of capitalism within the largest conceivable geographical and historical framework in this fascinating new book. Capitalism, argues Beckert, was born global.

Emerging from merchant communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, capitalism's radical recasting of economic life rooted itself only gradually. Then it burst onto the world scene, as European states and merchants built a powerful alliance that would propel them across the oceans. This epic drama corresponded at no point to an idealised dream of free markets.

All along, state-backed institutions and imperial expansions shaped its dynamics. Capitalism decentres the European perspective, highlighting agency, resistance, innovation and ruthless coercion around the world through to the present with the rise of Asian economies, particularly China. Sven Beckert doesn't merely add up capitalism's debits and credits in this monumental book, but allows us to think afresh about the past to help us re-imagine the future.

Biografía del autor

Sven Beckert es profesor de Historia de América en la Universidad de Harvard. Doctorado en la Universidad de Columbia, es autor de una vasta producción en historia política, social y económica del capitalismo. Ha recibido numerosas distinciones y premios, entre los que figuran los de la Harvard Business School, el Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers de la Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York y el Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History. Trabajó también en el American Council of Learned Societies y en la John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.