<
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/23/capitalism-by-sven-beckert-review-an-extraordinary-history-of-the-economic-system-that-controls-our-lives>
"In the early 17th century, the Peruvian city of Potosí billed itself as the
“treasure of the world” and “envy of kings”. Sprouting at the foot of the Cerro
Rico, South America’s most populous settlement produced 60% of the world’s
silver, which not only enabled Spain to wage its wars and service its debts,
but also accelerated the economic development of India and China. The city’s
wealthy elites could enjoy crystal from Venice and diamonds from Ceylon while
one in four of its mostly indigenous miners perished. Cerro Rico became known
as “the mountain that eats men”.
The story of Potosí, in what is now southern Bolivia, contains the core
elements of Sven Beckert’s mammoth history of capitalism: extravagant wealth,
immense suffering, complex international networks, a world transformed. The
Eurocentric version of capitalism’s history holds that it grew out of
democracy, free markets, Enlightenment values and the Protestant work ethic.
Beckert, a Harvard history professor and author of 2015’s prize-winning
Empire
of Cotton, assembles a much more expansive narrative, spanning the entire
globe and close to a millennium. Like its subject, the book has a “tendency to
grow, flow, and permeate all areas of activity”. Fredric Jameson famously said
that it was easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.
At times during these 1,100 pages, I found it easier to imagine the end of the
world than the end of
Capitalism."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
