The long 20th century

Author: Giovanni Arrighi (Italy)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: This book is a study of the 1970s global economic crisis. The crisis is conceptualized as the third stage of a single historical process, the terminal stage. This process is defined by three phases: the rise, full expansion, and demise of the world-scale American capitalist accumulation system. Do you remember the economic crisis of the late 1920s to early 1930s? That crisis was unforgettable due to its devastating impact, vast scope, and long duration. However, capitalism has also been continuously expanding and undergoing internal revolutions, enabling it to overcome one crisis after another and renew its vitality. But how long can the power of capital sustain itself, from Genoa to the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States? How far can capitalism still progress? The author provides an in-depth and compelling description of capitalism's expansionary history over hundreds of years in this book. To put it mildly, even when compared to the masterpieces of Braudel and Wallerstein, it holds its own without any!