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Rating: 
Summary: The Best Introduction I've Seen
Review: Grassby's little book is an excellent introduction to the concept of capitalism. It admonishes us at the beginning to discard our preconceived notions: the idea is neither theoretical nor is it empirical. It is merely socialism's Demiurge. (Indeed, the term comes into the English language in translation from a French socialist, according to the OED.) Just as there are many inconsistent versions of socialism, its straw man, pretending to be a description of the status quo, varies at least as much. The author then goes on to describe briefly (that is, the rest of the book, which is only seventy-three pages) how the concept is used in the study of history and how any given effect that has been blamed on or (less often) credited to free markets pre-dates the industrial revolution, and can only rarely can be attributed to mutually beneficial exchange. The analysis in, and above all the skepticism of, this account make this a very fine place to begin any inquiry into the nature of the thing called capitalism. The problems with the book are that it is too short, it lacks footnotes, and its bibliographical essay includes only relatively new sources, requiring the reader to take notes or shuffle through the book to find the authors and titles actually discussed in text.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Introduction I've Seen
Review: Grassby's little book is an excellent introduction to the concept of capitalism. It admonishes us at the beginning to discard our preconceived notions: the idea is neither theoretical nor is it empirical. It is merely socialism's Demiurge. (Indeed, the term comes into the English language in translation from a French socialist, according to the OED.) Just as there are many inconsistent versions of socialism, its straw man, pretending to be a description of the status quo, varies at least as much. The author then goes on to describe briefly (that is, the rest of the book, which is only seventy-three pages) how the concept is used in the study of history and how any given effect that has been blamed on or (less often) credited to free markets pre-dates the industrial revolution, and can only rarely can be attributed to mutually beneficial exchange. The analysis in, and above all the skepticism of, this account make this a very fine place to begin any inquiry into the nature of the thing called capitalism. The problems with the book are that it is too short, it lacks footnotes, and its bibliographical essay includes only relatively new sources, requiring the reader to take notes or shuffle through the book to find the authors and titles actually discussed in text.
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