How slavery, colonialism, and strong state involvement laid the foundations of modern prosperity

Review of Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert

The cotton industry represented the first step in the development of the modern industrial economy. Slavery and ever-more-efficient state coercion (in subservient cooperation with private capital) were integral to its development. Global in scale, this convergence of factors would re-fashion the everyday lives of a majority of people on the planet – sub…