The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View

How did the dynamic economic system we know as capitalism develop among the peasants and lords of feudal Europe?

In The Origin of Capitalism, a now-classic work of history, Ellen Meiksins Wood offers readers a clear and accessible introduction to the theories and debates concerning the birth of capitalism, imperialism, and the modern nation state. Capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor simply an extension of age-old practices of trade and commerce. Rather, it is a late and localized product of very specific historical conditions, which required great transformations in social relations and in the relationship between humans and nature.

• The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time
• Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism
• Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
• Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)
• Empire of Cotton: A Global History
• Marx, Capital, and the Madness of Economic Reason
• Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left
• Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
• A Companion To Marx's Capital: The Complete Edition
• A Brief History of Neoliberalism