A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet

Across Barbados’s brutal sugar plantations and Manchester’s smoke-choked mills, Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore race you through five centuries of “cheap” nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives—seven levers that modern commerce has yanked so ruthlessly they’re reshaping Earth like gears grinding a jagged clock. From Indigenous uprisings against colonial conquest in the Amazon rainforest to enslaved Africans’ revolts that cracked the foundations of 18th-century Caribbean estates, each crisis has sparked fresh schemes to make the world safe for capitalism. Patel and Moore fuse ecological science with the raw histories of slave revolts, Zapatista solidarity, and anti-colonial rebellions to reveal how Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, and Indigenous Rights remain locked in a high-stakes tug-of-war. Their radical new lens exposes how “cheap lives” fuel factory runs in Detroit, how “cheap food” drives monoculture across Iowa’s cornfields, and how “cheap energy” lights the skyline while darkening the lungs of frontline communities. This urgent, systemic manifesto offers educators, students, and faith communities a vivid roadmap for reclaiming our future before the seventh cheap thing—our own resilience—snaps. Tap the Save to List button to bookmark this title, or tap the External Link button to view purchase and rental options.