Asked if his new book on the history of capitalism is hopeful, Trevor Jackson outright laughs. The UC Berkeley history professor has spent his career documenting the rise of the economic system that orders the lives of most people on the planet.
The resulting book, The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World, is rife with tales of precipitous inequality, bloodshed and environmental destruction, which Jackson shows are all inextricably linked to the pursuit of profit. But despite capitalism’s flaws, he writes on Page 1, “There is no credible alternative system on the horizon.”
The Insatiable Machine is not wholly fatalistic. By detailing the many steps that led to capitalism, Jackson aims to illustrate that “much more radical change is thinkable and possible than we realize,” he said. Again and again, he underscores that capitalism’s rise was not an inevitable or even intentional outcome. The book also highlights the 16-fold improvement in quality of life that capitalism unlocked, like increased lifespans, widespread electricity and modern consumer culture.