Jason W. Moore and Raj Patel,
A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature,
and the Future of the Planet
Hardcover, 328 pages
University of California Press, 2017
ISBN: 9780520293137
Nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives: these are the seven things that have made our world and will shape its future. In making these things cheap, modern commerce has transformed, governed, and devastated Earth. In A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore present a new approach to analyzing today’s planetary emergencies. Bringing the latest ecological research together with histories of colonialism, indigenous struggles, slave revolts, and other rebellions and uprisings, Patel and Moore demonstrate that throughout history, crises have always prompted fresh strategies to make the world cheap and safe for capitalism. At a time of crisis in all seven cheap things, innovative and systemic thinking is urgently required. This book proposes a radical new way of understanding—and reclaiming—the planet in the turbulent twenty-first century.
Review from Counterpunch Review from The Guardian Review from LA Review of Books
Interview with Moore and Patel by Sarah Jaffe
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Cheap Nature
2. Cheap Money
3. Cheap Work
4. Cheap Care
5. Cheap Food
6. Cheap Energy
7. Cheap Lives
Conclusion