A review by piccoline
Historical Capitalism with Capitalist Civilization by Immanuel Wallerstein

5.0

A swift, lucid narrative of just what's happened these last 500 years. Wallerstein writes with wit, clarity, and concision, and his analysis swoops through time gloriously. Also admirable: his clear explanation that though Marx was a great thinker, Marx himself recognized that he was a man of his time, and that thinkers in the future would need to keep up the analysis and develop understanding of the ways Capital always continues to mutate. Wallerstein has thought, deeply, about this stuff for so long that he's well prepared to breeze through the quick version here. The book's a page-turner that you can finish in a day or two, and his predictions, made in the early 90s, are hair-raisingly accurate.

If you wonder what all the Marxian fuss is about, this is a great primer on how Capital works, from someone with a healthy willingness to disagree with Marx (or anyone else) when necessary. (He's particularly convincing in his quibble with Marx about the myth of progress.)

Highly recommended.