This book is a major new history of capitalism which takes account of the material and ecological underpinnings of productive activity as well as the social, political and institutional dimensions of economic life. It retraces the history of capitalism over a long time period, giving particular attention to role of food, agriculture, energy and natural resources and with an eye to the future, mindful of the need to find solutions to an ecological crisis that threatens to overwhelm us.

Alessandro Stanziani shows that the development of capitalism since the 12th century has been based on two primary forms of exploitation: the exploitation of labour, often coerced, and the exploitation of what he calls ‘Earth capital’, by which he means both the planet as a whole and its land and natural resources as factors of production. While these two forms of exploitation have gone hand-in-hand, the emphasis has shifted over time: forced labour gradually declined in importance from 1870 on and the exploitation of land, fossil fuels and natural resources grew at an unprecedented rate from 1870 to the present, the destructive consequences of which are becoming increasingly apparent today.

Looking to the future, Stanziani argues that in order to deal with the immense challenges we now face, we must be prepared radically to rethink our economic and political systems. He proposes a new social contract that would make democracy, social equality and the environment the three pillars of the world of tomorrow.