Free delivery on all orders above $30
Get 10% off all year round! Join Thryft Club
Get 10% off all year round and $10 off your next order! Join Thryft Club

Your cart

Your cart is empty

Check out these collections!

Bestselling Fiction
Bestselling Nonfiction
Bestselling Books for Children
Vintage and Rare Books
Vinyl Records
Women's Clothing
Men's Clothing

Stay in touch and win free books

Keep up with our latest sales and events, and receive
recommendations direct to your inbox. We'll only send the good stuff, promise!

By completing this form, you are signing up to receive our emails and can unsubscribe at any time

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

by Sven Beckert
$17.90
Empire of Cotton: A Global History
Empire of Cotton: A Global History

Transformative journey through cotton's global impact.

If you're intrigued by how a single crop can redefine global economics and politics, "Empire of Cotton" is a must-read. Sven Beckert stitches together a narrative that unearths the dark interplay between imperialism, slavery, and capitalism. This book offers a comprehensive view of how cotton shaped our modern world, making it a compelling pick for history buffs and those interested in the profound forces that drive global change.

  • Pulitzer Prize Nominee for History (2015)
  • Bancroft Prize (2015)
  • Philip Taft Labor History Book Award (2015)
  • Cundill History Prize Nominee for Recognition of Excellence (2015)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

by Sven Beckert
$17.90
Condition guide

Book Condition Guide

Books in Like New Condition

This book may contain very minor cosmetic defects, but it is in pristine condition. There should be no yellowing, no foxing, no water damage, and no annotations of any kind on the cover and the pages. For paperbacks, there should not be any crease marks on the spine. This book is good as new — lucky you!

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Very Good Condition

This book has been used, but it is still in a clean condition. There should be no foxing or annotations of any kind on the inner pages, but a sparse amount may be present on the cover, title pages, or outside edges of the book. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be light crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Good Condition

We do our best to ensure the quality of our books, but there is no escaping the wear and tear that comes with time. Slight foxing and some annotations may be present on the pages and the cover. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be several crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Well Read Condition

This is a well-read book, which means that the previous owner probably really enjoyed it! The cover and pages may include moderate foxing and annotations, but the text is not obscured and still readable. Moderate cosmetic defects and minor water damage may be present on the edges of the book. For paperbacks, there may be multiple crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

 

Find out more about our process here.

Save 10% On This Item as a Thryft Club Member

Join Thryft Club for S$30/year and enjoy 10% off everything, plus S$10 off your first order. Join now →

ISBN: 9780375414145
Authors: Sven Beckert
Publisher: Knopf
Date of Publication: 2014-12-02
Format: Hardcover
Related Collections: Business, Economics, History, Politics
Related Topics: World History, American History, Politics, American History, History
Goodreads rating: 3.89
(rated by 3578 readers)

Description

The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins of modern capitalism. Sven Beckert’s rich, fascinating book tells the story of how, in a remarkably brief period, European entrepreneurs and powerful statesmen recast the world’s most significant manufacturing industry, combining imperial expansion and slave labor with new machines and wage workers to change the world. Here is the story of how, beginning well before the advent of machine production in the 1780s, these men captured ancient trades and skills in Asia, and combined them with the expropriation of lands in the Americas and the enslavement of African workers to crucially reshape the disparate realms of cotton that had existed for millennia, and how industrial capitalism gave birth to an empire, and how this force transformed the world. The empire of cotton was, from the beginning, a fulcrum of constant global struggle between slaves and planters, merchants and statesmen, workers and factory owners. Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities that are with us today. The result is a book as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global
 

Transformative journey through cotton's global impact.

If you're intrigued by how a single crop can redefine global economics and politics, "Empire of Cotton" is a must-read. Sven Beckert stitches together a narrative that unearths the dark interplay between imperialism, slavery, and capitalism. This book offers a comprehensive view of how cotton shaped our modern world, making it a compelling pick for history buffs and those interested in the profound forces that drive global change.

  • Pulitzer Prize Nominee for History (2015)
  • Bancroft Prize (2015)
  • Philip Taft Labor History Book Award (2015)
  • Cundill History Prize Nominee for Recognition of Excellence (2015)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.