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The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism Hardcover – January 4, 2010

by Joyce Appleby (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 19 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 512 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1St Edition edition (January 4, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0393068943
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393068948
  • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.6 x 9.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #583,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsIntermittently interesting
By Jay C. Smith on March 22, 2010
Format: Hardcover
As I was reading The Relentless Revolution I struggled a little thinking how best to characterize its purpose and content. On the surface it is as advertised, a history of capitalism. It covers several centuries globally, though with the Western emphasis inherent in the subject, and touches on most of the topics one would expect in a standard survey of modern economic history. However, it is not quite suitable for a college-level introductory text, because it is a little too personal, too up-front with the author's own convictions and interests. On the other hand, only occasionally does it penetrate deeply enough and present sufficiently sustained arguments to constitute much more than an introduction.

The most telling way to encapsulate the book, I concluded, is that it represents Joyce Appleby's attempt through historical reflection to sort out her own attitudes about capitalism. Since Appleby is a distinguished scholar, a past president of both the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, one would expect her ruminations to be of some interest, and they often are, although not relentlessly so.

Most parts of Appleby's story have been told many times before: European exploration and commercial expansion, the advance in agricultural productivity, industrialization, the ascent of corporations and big business, the tribulations of depression, post World War II prosperity, the rise of Asian economies, the challenges and opportunities of contemporary globalization, and so on, right up to our most recent near meltdown. Where Appleby adds value, I believe, is through certain of her thematic insights, especially those rooted in topical ground where she herself has contributed to the primary research.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent historical survey of the development of capitalism
By Robert Moore HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on April 10, 2010
Format: Hardcover
If you want a solid historical survey of the history of capitalism from someone who has no ideological axes to grind, this will fit the bill. In fact, because so many books written about capitalism are written either by principled debunkers or impassioned boosters, it is important to read multiple accounts. The notion that capitalism has a history is for some a radical claim. Some libertarians insist on the primacy of capitalism in a way that would suggest that capitalism is a natural, primordial economic system to such a degree that it is pretty much inevitable. Appleby, on the other hand, sees the development of capitalism as a highly contingent, event, something that might not have happened had not the right cultural preconditions existed (such as advances in agriculture that made it possible for a large number of the populace to leave farms for factories.

Appleby is primarily a historian who has focused on the 18th and early 19th centuries, so it is not a surprise that these are some of the most interested chapters in the book. The 19th century chapters were also quite good, but I felt that the book became a bit free ranging in the final chapters. The topics discussed were valid and important, but the connections between these chapters were not always clear.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsBest for 16th-19th centuries
By Benjamin Lima on July 13, 2010
Format: Hardcover
This book takes the position that the scientific-seeming laws of economics are the product of historically specific circumstances, and focuses on explaining those circumstances. As another review suggested, one should read this book in conjunction with other "big history" books -- for example by Kenneth Pomeranz, David Landes, William McNeill, Jared Diamond, Gregory Clark.

Appleby thinks that capitalism emerged when people started to see themselves as calculating economic agents, more so than as occupiers of hereditary positions -- more specifically, when this view started to become dominant in society. This happened in seventeenth-century England, and her account of this period is the highlight of the book. She explains why neither the rise of skilled artisans in Italian city-states, nor the explorations of Spain and Portugal, nor yet the Industrial Revolution, really correspond to this shift. The trading wealth of the Dutch almost counts, but Appleby argues that England, unlike the Netherlands, had the natural resources, means to agricultural modernization, and active public sphere of opinion to make the first transition to capitalism proper. She emphasizes that economic risk-taking requires enough of an agricultural surplus to assure that risk-takers won't starve if something goes wrong, and England got there first.

I found that the book became increasingly haphazard and unfocused as it reached the 20th century; I would suggest reading up to the rise of Germany and the US in the 19th century, then switching over to Jeffry Frieden's book on global capitalism (appreciatively cited by Appleby).

The names of Jean Monnet and Steve Wozniak are misspelled, and there are a disturbing number of citations to non-scholarly websites, interspersed with citations to scholarly sources.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsSuperficial

A long list of things you already know written at the level of a high school text. If this passes for historical analysis at UCLA it is embarrassing.

Published 2 months ago by Dolores Calvert
1.0 out of 5 starsHorrible book

Horrible book. Hard to follow and understand

Published 14 months ago by Denise D Lizauskas
4.0 out of 5 starsso far so good.

I'm just getting into it; so far so good.

Published 22 months ago by Michael G. Cassidy
5.0 out of 5 starsRead It

Read it. Love it. You should read it too.

Published on July 28, 2014 by Mama of Four
3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting but biased

The historical aspects of the development of markets and Capitalism were interesting early on in this book. It seemed like she ran out of steam the farther along she got. Read more

Published on May 14, 2013 by RegionAire
4.0 out of 5 starsIntriguing Premise: Capitalism Could Not Have Emerged Anywhere but...

The author makes a strong case that capitalism was not the natural result of inexorable market forces and human evolution, transformed by the industrial revolution. Read more

Published on March 9, 2013 by David M. Freedman
2.0 out of 5 starsIncoherent liberal narrative

I will readily admit that I have only read the first half of this book, as my current interests lie in the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Read more

Published on June 7, 2012 by whiteelephant
2.0 out of 5 starsA bit dry

I'm still plowing through this. It's not quite as enjoyable as I thought it would, especially given the interesting topic.

Published on January 9, 2012 by Nicola
2.0 out of 5 starsWindy

Very repetitive, flaccid prose, accurate but not deep.

This book needed a major rewrite to cut it by half.

Published on June 21, 2011 by Bruce A. Morley
5.0 out of 5 starsA neo-Weberian view of capitalism

Professor Appleby is a distinguished historian at UCLA, a specialist in the evolution of capitalism and an expert on British economic tracts of the 17th century. Read more

Published on June 5, 2011 by Hugh Small

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