Capitalism Books

Book Synopsis**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**'The visionary author of How to Do Nothing returns to challenge the notion that ‘time is money.’ . . . Expect to feel changed by this radical way of seeing' EsquireWe're living on the wrong clock. And it's destroying us.Our life is dominated by the corporate clock that so many of us contort ourselves to fit inside. It wasn't devised for people, but for profit. We need to embrace a whole new concept of time: one that gives us and our planet a brighter future.In Saving Time, Jenny Odell, bestselling author of How to Do Nothing, examines how we got to the point where time became money. Taking inspiration from the pre-industrial, ecological and geological rhythms of our world, she offers us radical new models to live by that make a more humane, more hopeful existence seem possible.Now is our moment to rethink. And if we do, time might just save us.'An inimitable gift' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror'One of the most important books I've read in my life' Ed Yong, author of An Immense World'To read it is ... to experience how freedom might feel' Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand WeeksTrade ReviewIt is in the gap between present and future, where outcomes are not yet determined, that Jenny Odell enters with her paradigm-destroying new book ... [A] grand, eclectic, wide-ranging work * New York Times *In a work both magisterial and elliptical, Odell takes on the concept of 'time' from every conceivable angle ... This is both an irresistible big-idea book an a guide to rethinking a burning world * LA Times *A penetrating, provocative investigation into the subject of time - how to understand and live with it - on both an individual and societal level ... impressive * Shelf Awareness *Temporal structure has its comforts, particularly following a tumultuous three years ... That yo-you effect [of the last few years] drew me to Saving Time, Jenny Odell's sharp book tracing the cultural forces that shape our conception of time * Laura Regensdorf, Vanity Fair *Odell fights to provide us with an alternative way to experience the time we have * i Paper *

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Book SynopsisHardship is now equated with victimhood. Outward displays of vulnerability in defeat are celebrated over winning unabashedly. The pursuit of excellence and exceptionalism are at the heart of American identity, and the disappearance of these ideals in our country leaves a deep moral and cultural vacuum in its wake. But the solution isn't to simply complain about it. It's to revive a new cultural movement in America that puts excellence first again.Leaders have called Ramaswamy "the most compelling conservative voice in the country" and "one of the towering intellects in America," and this book reveals why: he spares neither left nor right in this scathing indictment of the victimhood culture at the heart of America's national decline. In this national bestseller, Ramaswamy explains that we're a nation of victims now. It's one of the few things we still have left in common-across black victims, white victims, liberal victims, and conservative victims. Victims of each other, and ultimately, of ourselves.This fearless, provocative book is for readers who dare to look in the mirror and question their most sacred assumptions about who we are and how we got here. Intricately tracing history from the fall of Rome to the rise of America, weaving Western philosophy with Eastern theology in ways that moved Jefferson and Adams centuries ago, this book describes the rise and the fall of the American experiment itself-and hopefully its reincarnation.Now updated with a new foreword from the author.

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Book SynopsisEminent scholar-activist Neil Davidson’s brilliance is on full display in this posthumous work, a timely and prescient introduction to the neoliberal era. While it is widely agreed that neoliberalism arose in the wake of the global economic crisis of the 1970s, there remains much debate about how to understand its significance and even how to define it. Is it best seen as an ideology of free market fundamentalism, a series of policy decisions gutting the public sector and breaking unions, or as an era of capitalist development with its own logic Bringing his considerable intellectual breadth and characteristic generosity to bear on this question, Neil Davidson shows that to truly appreciate what is unique about neoliberalism, and what marks it out as a continuation of capitalism more generally, it is necessary to examine its social dimensions. What Was Neoliberalism? holds fast to Davidson’s conviction that thoroughly understanding the past means being better prepared for the struggles of the future.Trade ReviewPraise for How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions "I was frankly pole-axed by this magnificent book. Davidson resets the entire debate on the character of revolutions: bourgeois, democratic and socialist. He's sending me, at least, back to the library." —Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums "This is, quite simply, the finest book of its kind." —Tony McKenna, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books “What should our conception of a bourgeois revolution be, if it is to enlighten rather than to mislead ? Neil Davidson’s instructive and provocative answer is given through a history both of a set of concepts and of those social settings in which they found application.His book is an impressive contribution both to the history of ideas and to political philosophy.” —Alasdair MacIntyre, author, After Virtue Praise for Holding Fast to an Image of the Past "This is Neil Davidson at his very best. In a sparkling set of essays, Davidson offers a conceptually sophisticated and historically wide-ranging analysis of the work of classical and contemporary political thinkers. From a critical assessment of Tom Nairn on nationalism to his sympathetic reading of the messianic Marxism of Walter Benjamin, Davidson demonstrates the profound intellectual insights to be derived from a careful, open and non-dogmatic deployment of the theoretical resources of historical materialism." —Satnam Virdee at University of Glasgow "Working from the best grounds of a now-classical materialism, with great interpretive breadth and rich historical learning, Neil Davidson offers astute and measured guidance through some main territories of contemporary Marxist and associated intellectual history.” —Geoff Eley, Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History University of MichiganTable of ContentsPreface Introduction History Chapter 1: Intellectual antecedents and material origins Chapter 2: Vanguard neoliberalism: regimes of reorientation, 1973-1991 Chapter 3: Social neoliberalism: regimes of consolidation, 1992-2007 Structure Chapter 4: Boom economies? Chapter 5: Broken societies? Chapter 6: Market states? Conclusion: A new phase of capitalist development or a “Third Period” of neoliberalism?

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Book Synopsis“Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year.”— Malcolm X (a former auto worker) Written in a lively, accessible fashion and drawing extensively on interviews with people who were formerly incarcerated, Cars and Jails examines how the costs of car ownership and use are deeply enmeshed with the U.S. prison system. American consumer lore has long held the automobile to be a “freedom machine,” consecrating the mobility of a free people. Yet, paradoxically, the car also functions at the cross-roads of two great systems of entrapment and immobility– the American debt economy and the carceral state. Cars and Jails investigates this paradox, showing how auto debt, traffic fines, over-policing, and automated surveillance systems work in tandem to entrap and criminalize poor people. The authors describe how racialization and poverty take their toll on populations with no alternative, in a country poorly served by public transport, to taking out loans for cars and exposing themselves to predatory and often racist policing. Looking skeptically at the frothy promises of the “mobility revolution,” Livingston and Ross close with thought-provoking ideas for a radical overhaul of transportation.Trade Review“An extraordinary example of how critical carceral studies can enlighten, complicate and inspire.”— Angela Y. Davis, activist, scholar and author"I’ve dreamed for years that somebody would write this book. It’s not only a brilliant intervention but a necessary one. Livingston and Ross explore the profound antisociality of automotive life in a society configured by racial hierarchy. They have thoughtfully illuminated the mutual articulation of automotivity and carcerality in provocative ways that have enormous practical value."— Paul Gilroy, award-winning theorist of race and racism and author of Postcolonial Melancholia

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Book SynopsisScoundrels and Shirkers examines the deep relationship between capitalism and poverty in England since the 12th century. It exposes the dynamics of capitalism, from its origins in the long transition from feudalism to its current crisis under neoliberal capitalism, in producing poverty.The book, unique in the historical breadth of its focus, shows conclusively that poverty is an inevitable consequence of capitalism. In the search for profits and control of society's economic surplus, capitalism expands, adapts and innovates, producing not only commodities and wealth but also, and necessarily, poverty.With the partial but important exception of the 1945–51 period, and to a lesser extent the time between 1906 and 1914, there has never been a serious attempt to solve poverty. Efforts have always been to manage and control the poor to prevent them from starving or rebelling; to punish and blame them for being poor; and to force them into poverty-level jobs. Any real solution would require the logic of capitalism to be deeply disrupted. While possible in theory, such a change will require massive social movements.

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Book SynopsisCapitalism represents the greatest engine of material well-being that the world has ever seen. But scepticism about its viability has grown across the political spectrum, on the back of rising inequalities, climate change and digital disruptions. This book joins the debate about the crisis of capitalism—not by blindly defending the system, but by advocating concrete proposals to put it on a more socially and environmentally sustainable path. Too often, conversations about the future of capitalism consider it as a homogeneous socio-economic system whose features vary little from one location to another; this commonly leads to one-size-fits-all recommendations to address capitalism’s flaws. The contributors to this book, by contrast, look at the transition needed from the perspective of capitalism’s multi-faceted nature, in response to challenges including the green transition, the digital revolution and spiralling inequalities. These present difficult trade-offs in terms of growth, efficiency and stability, which each capitalist model will solve differently.

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Book SynopsisFables of Development: Capitalism and Social Imaginaries in Spain (1950-1967) focuses on a basic paradox: why is it that the so-called “Spanish economic miracle” —a purportedly secular, rational, and technocratic process— was fictionally portrayed through providential narratives in which supernatural and extraordinary elements were often involved? In order to answer this question, this book examines cultural fictions and social life at the time when Spain turned from autarchy to the project of industrial and tourist development. Beyond the narratives about progress, modernity, and consumer satisfaction on a global and national level, the cultural archives of the period offer intellectual findings about the expectations of a social majority who lived in the precariousness and who did not have sufficient income to acquire the consumer goods that were advertised. Through the scrutiny of interdisciplinary archives (literary texts, cinema, newsreels, comics, and journalistic sources, among other cultural artifacts), each chapter offers an analysis of the social imaginaries about the circulation and distribution of capital and resources in the period from 1950, when General Franco’s government began to integrate into international markets and institutions following its agreements with the United States, to 1967, when the implementation of the First Development Plan (1964-1967) was completed.Trade Review“Drawing inspiration from Fredric Jameson, Walter Benjamin and Cornelius Castoriadis, Ana Fernández-Cebrián historicizes the providential narratives and extraordinary/supernatural discourses accompanying the “economic miracle” of Franco dictatorship’s developmentalist turn. This is an impressive contribution toward understanding an uneven geopolitical landscape whose ideological features remain all too familiar.”Benjamin Fraser, Professor of Iberian Studies, The University of ArizonaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionI. Dreamworlds of Development: Cold War Imaginaries in Franco’s Spain1: Fables of Intervention2: Fables of Outer SpaceII. Providential Capitalism3: Fables of Chance4: Fables of GraceAfterword

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Book SynopsisWhat is the role of trade to both expedite growth and to provide the transformative innovations needed in our post-Pandemic, post-Brexit, unstable world? Using historical examples to demonstrate how complex forces interplay into virtuous or vicious cycles of cumulative causation, Simmons and Culkin suggest alternative trade approaches to drive economic growth. Set within the socio-political space defined by a nascent Anglosphere and its implicit nationalism, they map alternative frameworks to embolden entrepreneurs to make the future. With fresh thinking Covid, Brexit and The Anglosphere equips academics, students, policymakers and general readers with the tools to drive growth in a post-Pandemic post- Brexit fragmenting world order facing rapidly advancing technical change.Trade ReviewAs a serial entrepreneur this book grasps the complex challenges I face on a daily basis. The two main concepts discussed give valuable insights into the dynamics of launching innovations that drive growth. The Quadruple Innovation Vortex neatly demonstrates the interlocking roles of the state, universities and financial capital working in partnership with entrepreneurs like myself to overcome obstacles and reach the market. The complexity and interrelation of Cumulative Causation reflects the real world the entrepreneur works in where numerous different aspects need to work together to generate the virtuous cycle of success. Simmons and Culkin’s book is a “must read” for those who want to explore how innovation and growth require so much more than just Open Trade. -- Jukka Peltola, Serial entrepreneur in global media, consumer product and complementary medicine markets.This forward-thinking book is innovative and exciting, Simmons and Culkin’s dare to imagine and envisage innovation by addressing the unanswered questions that we have all been asking. The book is an essential read for academics, researchers, policy makers and business leaders alike because it presents groundbreaking ideas on innovation and how we can drive economic growth in practical ways that are hard to ignore. -- Professor Kiran Trehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and EngagementWith the United Kingdom’s Brexit transition in seemingly perpetual motion, Simmons and Culkin provide an easily-digestible menu of socio-economic historical context, assessment of contemporary structural stagnation of breakthrough innovation, and forward-looking positive proposals for recovery from Brexit by sustaining a knowledge economy. The authors have delivered a valuable academic text that is both accessible to the lay reader, and provides important insight for businesses, investors and policy makers. In particular, the focus on establishing disruptive innovation through harnessing partnership with academic researchers provides a practical framework to catalyse economic growth that benefits wider society. -- Professor Darragh Murnane, Professor of Pharmaceutics and Deputy Director, The Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol ScienceThis is a great little book – aimed as a teach-in for undergraduates and others on what ‘free trade’ means (lots of different things it seems and you can take your pick!) and how, if done correctly, it could stimulate entrepreneurship and encourage growth [...] not only very informative but also at times quite entertaining. -- Vicky Pryce, The Society of Professional EconomistsTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Before We Begin …Definitions Chapter 3. The Menu – Differing Trade Theories Chapter 4. The Aperitif 400 Years of Change;– Southwark and Cumulative Causation Chapter 5. The Sorbet -Economic Background Chapter 6. The Soup – Nationalism Popularism, Trade and Development Chapter 7. The Seasoning? - The Anglosphere Chapter 8. "Specials” – Innovation, Trade Growth and the Entrepreneur Chapter 9. Main Course - Shocks, Trade & Growth Chapter 10. Two Twists – Regulations and Monopolies Chapter 11. Pause for Reflection, Britain in 1910 Chapter 12. Dessert Menu – Acquiring Resources to Support Innovation Chapter 13. The “Digestif” Cumulative Causation Chapter 14. Coffee and Conclusions

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Book Synopsis**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**We're living on the wrong clock. And it's destroying us.'To read it is ... to experience how freedom might feel' Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand WeeksOur life is dominated by the corporate clock that so many of us contort ourselves to fit inside. It wasn't devised for people, but for profit. We need to embrace a whole new concept of time: one that gives us and our planet a brighter future.In Saving Time, Jenny Odell, bestselling author of How to Do Nothing, examines how we got to the point where time became money. Taking inspiration from the pre-industrial, ecological and geological rhythms of our world, she offers us radical new models to live by that make a more humane, more hopeful existence seem possible.Now is our moment to rethink. And if we do, time might just save us.'An inimitable gift' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror'One of the most important books I've read in my life' Ed Yong, author of An Immense WorldSaving Time featured on the New York Times bestseller list 26.3.23Trade ReviewSaving Time is an exposé of our past, an antidote to our present, and a manifesto for the future. It is rigorous, compassionate, profound, and hopeful. It is one of the most important books I've read in my life * Ed Yong, author of An Immense World *A revealing exploration of the forces that keep us locked in a shallow, commodified and adversarial relationship with time. But it is also a portal to a far richer alternative. To read it is to slip through the bars of our modern temporal prison and experience how freedom might feel * Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks *The rarest kind of intervention: it alters you immediately, and then it lasts ... Saving Time is an inimitable gift * Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror *A rare book that does more than meet the current moment, it defines it * Booklist *Odell's journey to find the best way to use our limited time on earth is an eye-opening look at what it really means to be alive * TIME *It is in the gap between present and future, where outcomes are not yet determined, that Jenny Odell enters with her paradigm-destroying new book ... [A] grand, eclectic, wide-ranging work * New York Times *Stunning ... Odell approaches time in a way I've only seen previously in science fiction [and] this expansiveness, both thematic and formal, is what makes Odell's writing so valuable and unique. ... It is, ultimately, an extraordinarily good thing that Odell's work exists in the world * Irish Times *Fiercely generous ... invites us to exit the superhighways and explore the scenic detours, byways, rebel camps, the other visions of who we can be while reminding us that slowness can yield more than speed * Rebecca Solnit, author of Orwell's Roses *Odell has gifted us a way to move through this intertidal moment by reclaiming our more intuitive, felt experience of the passage of time. ... A beautiful, clarifying, and surprisingly reassuring literary triumph * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock *Saving Time is about what it means to be on the clock, personally, politically and existentially. The book's writing glows. Reading this book is like being in the company of a particularly thoughtful friend: Odell shows you the truths of the structures you inhabit and then, warmly, attempts to protect you from your own nihilism * Alissa Quart, author of Bootstrapped *From the vast sweep of geological time to incremental seasonal changes observed on a single branch in a local park, this potently mysterious book explores the ways in which we might begin to challenge the cramped temporal confines of our modern lives * Helen Gordon, author of Landfall *By now a legend thanks to the simple but impactful wisdom of her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell furthers her argument for escaping the so-called attention economy. ... This follow-up promises to be as satisfying, optimistic, and enrapturing as Odell's original bestseller * Elle *An intriguing look into our attitudes to time ... striking * Guardian *A scintillating and important meditation on the notion of time * Times Literary Supplement *A powerful critique of the way we conceive of time in the modern, industrial world ... striking ... Odell calls for a way of living that is less extractive, less dependent on domination, and less about the human self * Guardian *The bestselling author of How to Do Nothing ... returns with another urgent examination of modern life * i-D *A moving and provocative game changer * Publishers Weekly *In a work both magisterial and elliptical, Odell takes on the concept of 'time' from every conceivable angle ... This is both an irresistible big-idea book an a guide to rethinking a burning world * LA Times *A penetrating, provocative investigation into the subject of time - how to understand and live with it - on both an individual and societal level ... impressive * Shelf Awareness *Temporal structure has its comforts, particularly following a tumultuous three years ... That yo-you effect [of the last few years] drew me to Saving Time, Jenny Odell's sharp book tracing the cultural forces that shape our conception of time * Laura Regensdorf, Vanity Fair *

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Book Synopsis‘A far-sighted analysis of the world order, and an urgent warning of what the future may hold in store.’ Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads ‘Excellent ... In the face of countries such as China and Russia challenging the US-led international order, Neumann’s book is a plea to Western countries to acknowledge their mistakes ― but not to abandon the very values that have inspired others around the world.’ Emma Sky, author of The Unravelling The West has fatally overestimated itself. What does this mean for the world? Over the last thirty years, through a mixture of naivety and arrogance, the West has lost its global advantage. Today’s challenges are profound: climate change, polarisation in society, and tensions with Russia and China. Instead of a liberal world order, a new world disorder has emerged. Yet the triumph of the West had seemed unstoppable not that long ago. After the end of the Cold War, the democratic market economy took hold in the former Eastern Bloc, Russia went from being an enemy to a partner, and even China turned to capitalism. Then came the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that shook the world. The War on Terror destabilised an entire region; the Arab Spring only brought forth new autocracies; and, following the annexation of Crimea, the confrontation with Russia intensified. The West is under pressure, and it has only itself to blame. It’s time for a new start: modernity must become sustainable if it is to survive. Peter R. Neumann, an internationally acclaimed expert on terrorism and geopolitics, uncovers the mistakes that led to our present situation and sets out the dangers the world will face if the West fails to reinvent itself.Trade Review‘This is a lucid and immensely readable analysis of how our current polycrisis emerged, less from malign intent than from a failure to understand humanity as it is, not as we wish it was. Showing how there are fundamental differences of perspective and no global agreement on how societies should be run, it goes beyond despondency to provide an impressive, evidence-based argument for geopolitical pluralism.’ -- John, Lord Alderdice, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and Executive Chairman of the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford‘The New World Disorder presents a concise and highly readable description of how the West went from post-Cold War triumph to its current despair. In this compelling book, Peter Neumann issues a powerful call for the West not only to recognise its mistakes, but also to renew itself and live up to its ideals.’ -- Daniel L. Byman, Director and Professor of the Security Studies Program, Georgetown University, and author of Spreading Hate‘A far-sighted analysis of the world order, and an urgent warning of what the future may hold in store.’ -- Peter Frankopan, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Silk Roads‘The New World Disorder is a great piece of work. In the face of countries such as China and Russia challenging the US-led international order, Neumann’s book is a plea to Western countries to acknowledge their mistakes — but not to abandon the very values that have inspired others around the world.’ -- Emma Sky, author of The Unravelling‘Peter Neumann provides an incisive tour d’horizon of the mistakes and failures of the past three decades that have divided and weakened the West and undermined its liberal ideals. With clarity and concision, The New World Disorder explains both why this has happened and what can be done to reverse it.’ -- Bruce Hoffman, author of God, Guns, and SeditionPraise for Bluster: Donald Trump's war on terror: ‘In this important book, Neumann argues that Donald Trump has undermined counterterrorism efforts by conflating terrorism with immigration and emboldening the far right at home while torching the United States’ soft power around the world. A timely, persuasive, and utterly devastating critique of Trump’s role in America’s longest war.’ -- Erica Chenoweth, Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard UniversityPraise for Radicalised: ‘Neumann, basing his work on research by his International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London, suggests that under “aggressive containment,” ISIS will collapse under its own contradictions. He traces the group’s rise in a concise, informative summary, and looks at both overall ideology and the personal narratives of individual fighters. Striking a readable balance between academic prose and anecdotal journalism, this book provides a start in “realistically evaluating a phenomenon that will define the new wave of terrorism.”’ * Publishers Weekly *Praise for Old and New Terrorism: ‘This book is suitable for everybody who wants to understand the basic principles and driving forces behind current terrorist groups as well as those wishing to in-depth knowledge of the history of terrorism. Despite the complexity of the evidence about the gradual changes that have led to a transformation in the phenomenon of terrorism, the overall thesis of the book is easy to comprehend, and all arguments are easy to follow.’ * Central European Journal of International and Security Studies *

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