Capitalism and Its Critics - by John Cassidy (Hardcover)

About the Book

"At a time when artificial intelligence, climate change, inequality, trade wars, and a right-wing populist backlash to globalization are raising fundamental questions about the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of global capitalism, from the East India Company and Industrial Revolution to the digital revolution...From the English Luddites who rebelled against early factory automation to communists in Germany and Russia in the early twentieth century, to the Latin American dependistas, the international Wages for Housework campaign of the 1970s, and the modern degrowth movement, the absorbing narrative traverses the globe." --

Book Synopsis

A Financial Times Most Anticipated Book of 2025

A sweeping, dramatic history of capitalism as seen through the eyes of its fiercest critics.

At a time when artificial intelligence, climate change, inequality, trade wars, and a right-wing populist backlash to globalization are raising fundamental questions about the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of global capitalism, from the East India Company and Industrial Revolution to the digital revolution. But here John Cassidy, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, adopts a bold new approach: he tells the story through the eyes of the system's critics. From the English Luddites who rebelled against early factory automation to communists in Germany and Russia in the early twentieth century, to the Latin American dependistas, the international Wages for Housework campaign of the 1970s, and the modern degrowth movement, the absorbing narrative traverses the globe. It visits with familiar names―Smith, Marx, Luxemburg, Keynes, Polanyi―but also focuses on many less familiar figures, including Flora Tristan, the French proponent of a universal labor union; Thomas Carlyle, the conservative prophet of the moral depredations of the market; John Hobson, the original theorist of imperialism; J. C. Kumarappa, the Indian exponent of Gandhian economics; Eric Williams, the Trinidadian author of a famous thesis on slavery and capitalism; Joan Robinson, the Cambridge economist and critic of Keynes; and Samir Amin, the leftist French-Egyptian economist and analyst of globalization.

Blending rich biography, panoramic history, and lively exploration of economic theories, Capitalism and Its Critics is true big history that illuminates the deep roots of many of the most urgent issues of our time.

Review Quotes

"[A] magisterial new study . . . Is the primary problem with free markets moral, economic or both? Is technology intrinsically bad, or can it be harnessed for progressive ends? Do markets rely on imperialistic expansion, or can domestic consumers sustain them? Is capitalism destined to tear itself apart, or can it weather the downturns it invariably induces? . . . Cassidy does not answer these questions, but his rewarding book provides an impressively lucid guide to a fascinating array of attempts to do so." --Becca Rothfeld, The Washington Post

"An expansive history of capitalism that places less emphasis on economic abstractions like perfectly competitive markets and draws attention instead to how often capitalist systems have fallen short." --James Surowiecki, The Yale Review

"[Cassidy] does a masterful job of tracing the history of critiques of capitalism and of attempts to come up with a workable alternative to it, but also illuminates the evolution of the system itself, showcasing its remarkable knack for reinventing itself and adapting to historical circumstances in order to survive--something it may be in the process of doing again right now." --Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times

"[A] marvellously lucid overview of capitalism's naysayers . . . by far the best primer I have read on the luminaries of the economic left." --Pratinav Anil, The Guardian (UK)

"One of the joys of Capitalism and Its Critics, John Cassidy's unexpectedly lively romp through the two-and-a-half-century history of capitalism, is its fine sense for dramatic reversals . . . the intelligent beach read of the summer . . . Over 28 punchy, rigorous yet engagingly peopled chapters, Cassidy not only explains the economic theories of Marx, Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Milton Friedman . . . but introduces us to a fabulous cast of lesser-known characters." --Stuart Jeffries, The Telegraph (UK)

"To normal people, economic theory is soul-crushing at the best of times. But Cassidy makes it all digestible by weaving together, in each chapter, the biography of each of his subjects with their key critique of capitalism, thus humanising otherwise dry debates about economic theory . . . Cassidy's range is impressive . . . he has produced a book that will stimulate much brooding among capitalism's defenders and critics." --Yuan Yi Zhu, The Times (UK)

"An intriguing account of how some of the most consequential ideas in economics developed, and how they forged the modern world." --The Economist (UK)

"Cassidy's masterful synthesis of history and biography serves to demonstrate that capitalism is in a permanent state of change not just because of its fundamental nature, but because of how it's continuously being subjected to pushback. The result is a unique and invigorating view of capitalism's history." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A sweeping economic history of the to-some-sacrosanct doctrine of capitalism and those arrayed against it over the years . . . dense with information, free of jargon, and a powerful argument against an increasingly
unsustainable economic system." --Kirkus (starred review)

"One of the great chroniclers of how money works turns his mind to the system itself. If anyone can sum up the tumultuous and knotty history of the dominant economic system of our era in a brisk 600-and-change pages, it's Cassidy." --John H. Maher, The Millions

"Capitalism and its Critics is everything that we've come to expect from John Cassidy. He weaves an engaging and trenchant discussion of key critics of capitalism over its more than 200 years into a history of capitalism itself. The battle is not only about economic ideas, but about the VERY nature of our society. Especially now, when some see the failures of capitalism as more than a little responsible for the Trumpian oligarchy, while others see its successes as ushering in a new era of AI-led prosperity, this is an illuminating and essential read." --Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society

"Fascinating and informative. The history of capitalism is told through the eyes and legitimate concerns of its most articulate critics. This is intellectual history at its best. Essential reading for anyone who wonders how the modern world wandered off course." --Simon Johnson, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and coauthor of Power and Progress

"John Cassidy's Capitalism and Its Critics is an impressive history of arguments about capitalism, from the industrial age to our time. Clear and accessible, it is an invaluable touchstone for current debates about economic renewal in our post-globalization moment." --Michael Sandel, author of The Tyranny of Merit

"Cassidy takes the reader on a fascinating journey to find out how capitalism has transformed the world. He brings to life well- and lesser-known voices who debate how the system works. The urgency to make it work better for those outside the top 1 percent is palpable." --Wendy Carlin, professor of economics, University College London and CORE Econ

"It's about time we had a history of capitalism told through the eyes of its critics. For too long the predominant global system for safeguarding the power of the few against the needs of the many has been thought of like the weather: inevitable and eternal, something that cannot be changed, that can only be borne or enjoyed, depending on the day. Cassidy is more storyteller than bomb thrower, and one can only hope this gets the mainstream attention it deserves." --Literary Hub

About the Author

John Cassidy is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Dot.con and How Markets Fail, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction.