The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View (Paperback)

~ Ellen Meiksins Wood (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A must read for anyone with even the remotest interest in the origins of capitalism. -- Choice

The writing is so supple and accessible, and the argument so persuasive... -- Adrienne Rich

[A] brilliant little book...it carries important lessons for our own times. -- The Spokesman

Product Description

In this original and provocative book Ellen Meiksins Wood reminds us that capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor is it 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 human interaction with nature. This new edition has been substantially revised and expanded, with several new chapters. It contains extensive new material, especially on imperialism, anti-Eurocentric history, capitalism and the nation-state and the differences between capitalism and non-capitalist commerce. The author also traces links between the origin of capitalism and contemporary conditions such as 'globalization,' ecological degradation and the current agricultural crisis.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Verso; Revised edition (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859843921
• ISBN-13: 978-1859843925
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #562,726 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Thought Provoking, June 27, 2007

By	Brian A. Powell "npbb_bap" (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This work could be rated higher. It is a very academic treatise and not easily accessible to the lay reader. I found it to be a refreshing examination and restating of historical facts and one small step towards discovering the truth behind the origins of our current society and culture. The ideas and analyses are a concise critique of free enterprise myths as to the origins of capitalism and short comings in Marxist theory.

15 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better antidotes to the right-wing colonisation of the intellect, July 13, 2006

By	Dr. Steppy (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) - See all my reviews

In the midst of the noisy and empty-headed celebrations of bourgeois values and free-market economics currently echoing around shady right-wing think-tanks and obsequious university departments, Meiksins Wood provides us with a salutory reminder that freedom in the context of the capitalist market is an illusion. We are in fact free to do only - and precisely - what the market demands. This potted history of the rise of a market dependency that is anything but an inevitable product of fixed human nature or evolutionary progress, followed up skilfully in her sequel 'Empire of Capital', is splendidly written in a clear, breezy style that the lay person should have no trouble following. In an intellectual world currently saturated with stale and repetitive free-market mumbo-jumbo, Meiksins Wood reminds us that some of us are still capable of mobilising critical intelligence.

13 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Whence Primitive Accumulation?, July 13, 2005

By	Leon Robinson - See all my reviews

This is an academic work: Wood's theses about capitalism, its historical specificity, and its genesis are put forward in terms of disagreements with other historians and thinkers. This isn't bad in and of itself, but it does present a barrier to the interested reader who isn't a specialist.

Wood locates the beginning of capitalism in England with the imposition of land rents on peasants for their living accomodiations. For her, this both created a class whose only economic resource was their labor power and gave the landholding non-nobles a chunk of capital to valorize. In terse but Marxian terms, this was *THE* act of primitive accumulation. I'm not qualified to judge this as an historical claim, but it does point out a definite discontinuity between feudal and capitalist production. Yet Woods dwells overmuch on capitalism as markets, and not as a regime of production. There has always been trade, and even trade such as we could not countenance today: for example, trade in human beings. But trade is not capitalism, and so a thesis of the advent of capitalism as the marketization of what was previously sacrosant seems tenuous.

It's entirely possible that these are my misunderstandings, and not Wood's intentions. When she puts aside her debates with other scholars, she writes in a direct and fluid style. I hope she will write an account of her research and theses on this topic for a non-scholarly audience. The subject deserves it.