Abstract

In the light of the deepening crisis of capitalism and continued non-Western capitalist accumulation, Henry Heller re-examines the debates surrounding the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe and elsewhere.

Focusing on arguments about the origin, nature and sustainability of capitalism, Heller offers a new reading of the historical evidence and a critical interrogation of the transition debate. He advances the idea that capitalism must be understood as a political as well as an economic entity. This book breathes new life into the scholarship, taking issue with the excessively economistic approach of Robert Brenner, which has gained increasing support over the last ten years. It concludes that the future of capitalism is more threatened than ever before.

The new insights in this book make it essential reading for engaged students and scholars of political economy and history.
'Sets a new standard in the study of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. A must for anybody interested in the transition debates'
Michael Perelman, author of The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation
'While many fantasise about an 'Empire' unified on a planetary level, this is a brilliant analysis of the role of national states in the forming and functioning of capitalism'
Domenico Losurdo, University of Urbino, author of Liberalism: A Counter-History
'A comprehensive, critical but balanced account from a classical Marxist perspective of the entire debate and its various controversies'
Neil Davidson