Sven Beckert

Empire of Cotton

1. IDEA 1

   Cotton built the modern economy

   Beckert argues that cotton was central to the rise of global capitalism. By following cotton from fields to factories to markets, he shows how one plant shaped the modern world economy.

2. IDEA 2

   War capitalism came first

   Beckert describes war capitalism, an early phase in which Europeans used force, conquest and slavery to control land, labour and trade. Violence was central to building global markets. Markets grew through conquest.

3. IDEA 3

   Slavery powered cotton production

   Beckert shows how enslaved people in the American South produced much of the world's cotton. Their forced labour fuelled the industrial revolution. Their suffering lay behind cheap cloth. Profits flowed north.

All 8 ideas from Empire of Cotton →