A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things
A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet
Raj Patel author Jason W Moore author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Verso Books
Published:18th Feb '20
Should be back in stock very soon
This book explores the intersection of capitalism and environmental degradation through seven essential elements, offering insights into reclaiming the planet's future.
In A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, authors Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore delve into the intricate relationship between capitalism and the environment. They identify seven fundamental elements—nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives—that have shaped our world and will continue to influence its future. The authors argue that modern commerce has made these elements cheap, leading to profound transformations, governance, and devastation of the Earth. This book serves as a critical examination of how these 'cheap things' have been manipulated throughout history to serve capitalist interests.
The narrative intertwines contemporary ecological research with historical accounts of colonialism, indigenous struggles, and various uprisings. Patel and Moore reveal that crises have historically led to innovative strategies aimed at making the world more accommodating for capitalism. By analyzing these patterns, they shed light on the urgent need for systemic thinking in addressing today’s planetary emergencies. The authors emphasize that the ongoing crises surrounding the seven cheap things demand a radical rethinking of our approach to the planet.
As we navigate the turbulent landscape of the twenty-first century, A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things proposes a transformative framework for understanding and reclaiming our environment. It encourages readers to reflect on how the commodification of essential elements impacts not just our lives but also the health of our planet, urging a collective response to the challenges we face.
If Patel and Moore don't quite make it to Mars, their book still covers an awful lot of ground. They move rapidly between economic analysis, history and political polemic, all in service of the premise that all the cheapness has in fact been catastrophically expensive... the overall impression is one of sweeping erudition, and an impressive ability to synthesise disparate elements. -- Mark O'Connell * Guardian *
Their central argument - that the inevitable trajectory of capitalism is a race to the bottom in which we all end as losers - is surely one that needs to be heard. * New Internationalist *
By shifting our attention away from the question of global warming to focus on the larger ideological manoeuvrings underpinning the way capitalism seeks to organise nature, Moore and Patel persuasively demonstrate that our responses to the crises of capitalism and climate that we are facing should not be exclusively about preventing catastrophic ecological change by blocking runway expansions. Instead, their work suggests that we are potentially seeing an unravelling of a much more complicated and convoluted set of longer running crises of capital that are becoming increasingly unmanageable, and not just because of heat waves or rising sea levels. -- Andrew Key * New Socialist *
[A] highly readable, heavily-sourced book -- John Fullerton * Freedom News *
Making the persuasive argument that capitalism is more than just an economic system, Patel and Moore illustrate how it has succeeded in creating an overwhelming planetary ecology, separating humans from the rest of nature, organising every relationship between them and exploiting all available resources to work for it as cheaply as possible. -- Jamie Johnson * Morning Star *
ISBN: 9781788737746
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 276g
336 pages