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Capitalism and Slavery

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Capitalism and Slavery

By: Eric Williams
Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Arguing that the slave trade was at the heart of Britain's economic progress, Eric Williams' landmark 1944 study revealed the connections between capitalism and racism and has influenced generations of historians ever since.

Williams traces the rise and fall of the Atlantic slave trade through the 18th and 19th centuries to show how it laid the foundations of the Industrial Revolution, and how racism arose as a means of rationalising an economic decision. Most significantly, he showed how slavery was only abolished when it ceased to become financially viable, exploding the myth of emancipation as a mark of Britain's moral progress.

©2022 Eric Williams (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Economic History Economics Europe Great Britain England Capitalism Imperialism Africa Latin America

Critic Reviews

"It's often said that books are compulsory reading, but this book really is compulsory. You cannot understand slavery, or British Empire, without it." (Sathnam Sanghera)

"Its thesis is a starting point for a new generation of scholarship." (New Yorker)

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