Historical Capitalism

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding overview: the essentials of World Systems Theory
Review: This book is short but dense, and was adapted from lectures made by Wallerstein, who is arguably one of the most influential social science theorists (in our generation) about global and historical issues.
Here, he outlines global inequality and describes how the world nations can be considered part of a global system of social stratification. Some background is given on how these inequalities are rooted in half a millenium of colonialism and (now) neocolonialism. For readers new to Wallerstein's thinking, this book will require quite a bit of study but many pages are just overflowing with profound insights. The result will be an understanding that will provide intelligent and studious readers with a framework that can be used to interpret modern history and current international events, as well as inequalities and issues within most countries around the world.

Highly recommended reading for advanced undergraduates, grad students, and professionals. Only 110 pages, but can easily fill an entire weekend for the studious reader.
An outstanding work that should be read before Wallerstein's more detailed analyses, such as "The Modern World-System" series.

Rating:
Summary: Too abstract, too short.
Review: Wallerstein indeed present here a number of interesting ideas, but they are very un-conventional, and he doen't try to prove them in any way (the book deliberately lack of any endnotes or biography), nor he make the effort to bring the reader's attention to possible criticisms. I guess his task was making a short, accessible and coherent introduction for his ideas, and the book have some succees as a trigger, but he could do better. Maybe he should have take one or two of his thesis (as semi-proletarian households pushing themselves proleraziation; or the origin of agraraian capitalism in the 15's century aristocracy making itself into bourgeoisie) and polemicize about them.