Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism - Paperback

by Joyce Appleby (Author)

With its deep roots and global scope, the capitalist system seems universal and timeless. The framework for our lives, it is a source of constant change, sometimes measured and predictable, sometimes drastic, out of control. Yet what is now ubiquitous was not always so. Capitalism was an unlikely development when it emerged from isolated changes in farming, trade, and manufacturing in early-modern England. Astute observers began to notice these changes and register their effects. Those in power began to harness these new practices to the state, enhancing both. A system generating wealth, power, and new ideas arose to reshape societies in a constant surge of change.

Approaching capitalism as a culture, as a historical development that was by no means natural or inevitable, Joyce Appleby gives us a fascinating introduction to this most potent creation of mankind from its origins to its present global reach.

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Advance Praise for The Relentless Revolution: "Joyce Appleby's prolific historical writings on politics and economic thought have earned her a distinguished reputation for incisiveness and originality. The Relentless Revolution, a crowning achievement, shows that capitalism is as much a matter of values and ideas as of supply, demand, and balance sheets. This is sweeping, challenging historical writing of the highest order." -Sean Wilentz, Princeton University, author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln "Joyce Appleby is one of our most distinguished historians, an elegant writer as well as an innovative and penetrating thinker. The Relentless Revolution is Appleby at her best: a brisk, fair-minded history of capitalism and its consequences." -T. J. Stiles, author of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt "Joyce Appleby, one of the leading historians of our generation, here provides the general reader with an impressively wide-ranging account and analysis of the making of the modern economic world. A fitting capstone to a distinguished career and a must-read for businesspeople." -Daniel Walker Howe, UCLA, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 "The Relentless Revolution tackles the enormous subject of the rise and expansion of modern capitalism. Starting in medieval England and ending with the global crisis that began in 2008, Appleby explores the successes and failures of capitalism over the last five hundred years and more. This readable, engaging, comprehensive account will enlighten and entertain anyone with an interest in understanding where the world economy has come from, and where it might be going." -Jeffrey Frieden, Harvard University, author of Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth-Century World