talking empires: cotton and capitalism
Want to dive deep into the relationship between the history of cotton farming, capitalism, and the global economy? Then Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton: A Global History, is your man. He's a historian who knows all things cotton and his book was described by the New York Times as:
...a major work of scholarship that will not be soon surpassed as the definitive account of the product that was, as Beckert puts it, the Industrial Revolution’s “launching pad.”
More than that, “Empire of Cotton” is laced with compassion for the millions of miserably treated slaves, sharecroppers and mill workers whose labors, over hundreds of years, have gone into the clothes we wear and the surprising variety of other products containing cotton, from coffee filters to gunpowder.
If you don't, however, have the time to read all 640 pages of Sven's book, check out the video in the link below. It's a recent lecture that he gave at the New School in New York that's guaranteed to make you more informed and super smart!