Empire of cotton : a global history / Sven Beckert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beckert, Sven.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cotton trade--History.

Cotton trade.

Cotton plantation workers--History.

Cotton plantation workers.

Slavery--Economic aspects.

Slavery.

Enslaved persons.

Textile workers.

Capitalism--History.

Capitalism.

Labor--History.

Labor.

Cotton textile industry--History.

Cotton textile industry.

enslaved people.

textile workers.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxii, 615 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm

Edition:

1st Vintage books ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2015, ©2014.

Summary:

"The empire of cotton was, from the beginning, a fulcrum of constant global struggle between slaves and planters, merchants and statesmen, workers and factory owners. Sven Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities that are with us today. In a remarkably brief period, European entrepreneurs and powerful politicians recast the worldℓ́ℓs most significant manufacturing industry, combining imperial expansion and slave labor with new machines and wage workers to make and remake global capitalism. The result is a book as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist."--Publisher's website.

Contents:

The rise of a global commodity

Building war capitalism

The wages of war capitalism

Capturing labor, conquering land

Slavery takes command

Industrial capitalism takes wing

Mobilizing industrial labor

Making cotton global

A war reverberates around the world

Global reconstruction

Destructions

The new cotton imperialism

The return of the global South

The weave and the weft: an epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-587) and index.

Cundill Prize in Historical Literature Finalist, 2015.

OCLC:

935296344

Publisher Number:

40024438050