In this authoritative and accessible book, one of the world's most renowned historians provides a concise and comprehensive history of capitalism within a global perspective from its medieval origins to the 2008 financial crisis and beyond. From early commercial capitalism in the Arab world, China, and Europe, to nineteenth- and twentieth-century industrialization, to today's globalized financial capitalism, Jurgen Kocka offers an unmatched account of capitalism, one that weighs its great achievements against its great costs, crises, and failures. Based on intensive research, the book puts the rise of capitalist economies in social, political, and cultural context, and shows how their current problems and foreseeable future are connected to a long history. Sweeping in scope, the book describes how capitalist expansion was connected to colonialism; how industrialism brought unprecedented innovation, growth, and prosperity but also increasing inequality; and how managerialism, financialization, and globalization later changed the face of capitalism. The book also addresses the idea of capitalism in the work of thinkers such as Marx, Weber, and Schumpeter, and chronicles how criticism of capitalism is as old as capitalism itself, fed by its persistent contradictions and recurrent emergencies. Authoritative and accessible, Capitalism is an enlightening account of a force that has shaped the modern world like few others.

This collection of essays explores the impact that nationalism, capitalism and socialism had on economics during the first half of the twentieth century. Focusing on Central Europe, contributors examine the role that businesspeople and enterprises played in Germany's and Austria's paths to the catastrophe of Nazism. Based on new archival research, the essays gathered here ask how the business community became involved in the political process and describes the consequences arising from that involvement. Particular attention is given to the responses of individual businesspeople to changing political circumstances and their efforts to balance the demands of their consciences with the pursuit for profit.

This collection of essays explores the impact that nationalism, capitalism and socialism had on economics during the first half of the twentieth century. Focusing on Central Europe, contributors examine the role that businesspeople and enterprises played in Germany's and Austria's paths to the catastrophe of Nazism. Based on new archival research, the essays gathered here ask how the business community became involved in the political process and describes the consequences arising from that involvement. Particular attention is given to the responses of individual businesspeople to changing political circumstances and their efforts to balance the demands of their consciences with the pursuit for profit.

In this authoritative and accessible book, one of the world's most renowned historians provides a concise and comprehensive history of capitalism within a global perspective from its medieval origins to the 2008 financial crisis and beyond. From early commercial capitalism in the Arab world, China, and Europe, to nineteenth- and twentieth-century industrialization, to today's globalized financial capitalism, Jurgen Kocka offers an unmatched account of capitalism, one that weighs its great achievements against its great costs, crises, and failures. Based on intensive research, the book puts the rise of capitalist economies in social, political, and cultural context, and shows how their current problems and foreseeable future are connected to a long history. Sweeping in scope, the book describes how capitalist expansion was connected to colonialism; how industrialism brought unprecedented innovation, growth, and prosperity but also increasing inequality; and how managerialism, financialization, and globalization later changed the face of capitalism. The book also addresses the idea of capitalism in the work of thinkers such as Marx, Weber, and Schumpeter, and chronicles how criticism of capitalism is as old as capitalism itself, fed by its persistent contradictions and recurrent emergencies. Authoritative and accessible, Capitalism is an enlightening account of a force that has shaped the modern world like few others.

Capitalism has been a controversial concept. In the second half of the 20th century, many historians have either not used the concept at all, or only in passing. Many regarded the term as too broad, holistic and vague or too value-loaded, ideological and polemic. This volume brings together leading scholars to explore why the term has recently experienced a comeback and assess how useful the term can be in application to social and economic history. The contributors discuss whether and how the history of capitalism enables us to ask new questions, further explore unexhausted sources and discover new connections between previously unrelated phenomena. The chapters address case studies drawn from around the world, giving attention to Europe, Africa and beyond. This is a timely reassessment of a crucial concept, which will be of great interest to scholars and students of economic history.

Capitalism has been a controversial concept. In the second half of the 20th century, many historians have either not used the concept at all, or only in passing. Many regarded the term as too broad, holistic and vague or too value-loaded, ideological and polemic. This volume brings together leading scholars to explore why the term has recently experienced a comeback and assess how useful the term can be in application to social and economic history. The contributors discuss whether and how the history of capitalism enables us to ask new questions, further explore unexhausted sources and discover new connections between previously unrelated phenomena. The chapters address case studies drawn from around the world, giving attention to Europe, Africa and beyond. This is a timely reassessment of a crucial concept, which will be of great interest to scholars and students of economic history.

Since the 1970s West German historiography has been one of the main arenas of international comparative history. It has produced important empirical studies particularly in social history as well as methodological and theoretical reflections on comparative history. During the last twenty years however, this approach has felt pressure from two sources: cultural historical approaches, which stress microhistory and the construction of cultural transfer on the one hand, global history and transnational approaches with emphasis on connected history on the other. This volume introduces the reader to some of the major methodological debates and to recent empirical research of German historians, who do comparative and transnational work.

Since the 1970s West German historiography has been one of the main arenas of international comparative history. It has produced important empirical studies particularly in social history as well as methodological and theoretical reflections on comparative history. During the last twenty years however, this approach has felt pressure from two sources: cultural historical approaches, which stress microhistory and the construction of cultural transfer on the one hand, global history and transnational approaches with emphasis on connected history on the other. This volume introduces the reader to some of the major methodological debates and to recent empirical research of German historians, who do comparative and transnational work.

Heinz-Gerhard Haupt is currently Professor of European History at the European University Institute. Previously, he was at the Universities of Bremen (1974-93), Halle (1993-98), and Bielefeld (1998-2004). He has been a Visiting Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris, University of Lyon II, and Columbia University and a Fellow at Princeton University. His publications in English include The Petite Bourgeoisie in Europe 1780-1914: Enterprise, Family and Independence (with G.Crossick, Routledge, 1995) and Europe in 1848: Revolution and Reform (edited with D. Dowe, D. Langewiesche, J. Sperber, 2001).

Jurgen Kocka is currently Professor for the History of the Industrial World at the Free University of Berlin, Research Professor at the Social Science Research Center Berlin and, regularly, a Visiting Professor at the University of California Los Angeles. Between 1973 and 1988 he taught in the University of Bielefeld. He has published widely in the field of modern history of Europe. His publications in the English language include Facing Total War. German Society 1914-1918 (Berg, 1984) and Industrial Culture and Bourgeois Society. Business, Labor, and Bureaucracy in Modern Germany (Berghahn, 1999)."

Whereas the history of workers and labor movements has been widely researched, the history of work has been rather neglected by comparison. This volume offers original contributions that deal with cultural, social and theoretical aspects of the history of work in modern Europe, including the relations between gender and work, working and soldiering, work and trust, constructions and practices. The volume focuses on Germany but also places the case studies in a broader European context. It thus offers an insight into social and cultural history as practiced by German-speaking scholars today but also introduces the reader to ongoing research in this field.

Jurgen Kocka taught Social History at the University of Bielefeld for many years, after which he was appointed Professor of History of the Industrial World at the Free University of Berlin and Research Professor at Berlin Social Science Research Centre (WZB). He has published widely in the field of Modern History, particularly Social and Economic History of Europe, 18th-20th centuries. His publications in the English language include Facing Total War. German Society 1914-1918 (Berg, 1984) and Industrial Culture and Bourgeois Society. Business, Labor, and Bureaucracy in Modern Germany (Berghahn, 1999)."

Globalization presents major challenges to scholars of history. Different variants of global history and world history compete with, and transform, more traditional approaches of national, regional, and local scope, accompanied by new forms of international and transcultural cooperation. However, as this book shows, these transnational trends in the historical discipline are not without precedent. Based on painstaking research, this volume reconstructs the history of the International Congresses of Historians from the first one in The Hague, 1898, to the nineteenth in Oslo, 2000. It also tells the story of the International Committee of the Historical Sciences, the world organization of historians, which was founded, with much American support, in 1926 and today includes 54 national committees and 28 affiliated international organizations from all parts of the world. Karl Dietrich Erdmann, former president of this organization, covered the story up to 1985. Wolfgang J. Mommsen continued it into the twenty-first century. This book traces and analyzes the changes of historians' problems, topics, and methods, as reflected at their International Congresses and in the work of their international organization. It describes the cleavages, debates, and forging of ties among historians from different parts of the world and ideological camps. It demonstrates how historians fought against academic nationalism-or succumbed to its seduction. It shows how the Cold War polarized the world of historians whereas the International Congresses offered a platform for bridging the gap. Since 1990, they have helped to redefine the relationship between historians from the West and from other parts of the world. The internationalization of the study of history is reaching a new quality. Karl Dietrich Erdmann's book was first published in German in 1987. It has been translated, updated, and edited for an international audience of the twenty-first century.

The social history of the 19th and 20th centuries has tended to focus on labour and socialist movements and working-class culture. However, due to an increased interest in the 18th and early 19th centuries, bourgeois society has been rediscovered by historians. This has been the theme of a large research project, initiated by Jurgen Kocka, which brought together about one hundred scholars working in history, anthropology, law, literature and sociology from West and East Germany, the United States, Israel and ten other West European countries. This volume contains some of the more important papers, which have been chosen for their special interest to English-speaking scholars and for which Jurgen Kocka has written a special and extensive introduction.

Dieser dritte Symposien-Band zur jungeren Geschichte der Berliner Akademien der Wissenschaften enthalt Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der beiden Berliner Wissenschaftsakademien nach 1945: der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Ost-Berlin vom Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs bis zum Ende der DDR und der kurzlebigen West-Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften der spaten 1980er Jahre. Es werden die fur den Druck uberarbeiteten Referate des Symposiums vom November 1999 geboten, die abschliessende Podiumsdiskussion uber gegenwartige und zukunftige Probleme der Wissenschaftsakademien dokumentiert und eine ausfuhrliche Zusammenfassung, die die Grundlinien der Entwicklung von 1945 bis 1990 dargelegt. Die Berliner Akademien werden hier in ihren Bezugen zu den gesellschaftlichen und politischen Rahmenbedingungen wie zur allgemeinen Wissenschaftsentwicklung der Zeit behandelt. Die Berliner Akademiegeschichte nach 1945 ist Teil der Geschichte einer geteilten Stadt und eines geteilten Landes. Die Beschaftigung mit der Geschichte der beiden Berliner Wissenschaftsakademien in diesem Zeitraum bleibt strittig. Weder kann oder will sie von den kontroversen Entscheidungen absehen, die um 1990 zur Auflosung beider Akademien fuhrten. Noch kann oder will sie sich losen von der offenen Frage nach der Zukunft der Wissenschaftsakademien in Deutschland, einer Frage, die auf der wissenschaftspolitischen Agenda steht. Der umfangreiche Schlussbeitrag von Kocka, Notzoldt und Walther fasst wichtige Ergebnisse des Bandes zusammen und erganzt sie aufgrund zusatzlicher Forschung. Das Ziel ist zwar nicht, eine umfassende Akademiegeschichte des Zeitraums vorzulegen, aber doch, ihr den Boden zu bereiten und ihre Grundlinien deutlich zu machen."

Whereas the history of workers and labor movements has been widely researched, the history of work has been rather neglected by comparison. This volume offers original contributions that deal with cultural, social and theoretical aspects of the history of work in modern Europe, including the relations between gender and work, working and soldiering, work and trust, constructions and practices. The volume focuses on Germany but also places the case studies in a broader European context. It thus offers an insight into social and cultural history as practiced by German-speaking scholars today but also introduces the reader to ongoing research in this field.

Jurgen Kocka taught Social History at the University of Bielefeld for many years, after which he was appointed Professor of History of the Industrial World at the Free University of Berlin and Research Professor at Berlin Social Science Research Centre (WZB). He has published widely in the field of Modern History, particularly Social and Economic History of Europe, 18th-20th centuries. His publications in the English language include "Facing Total War. German Society 1914-1918" (Berg, 1984), "Industrial Culture and Bourgeois Society. Business, Labor, and Bureaucracy in Modern Germany" (Berghahn, 1999), "Civil Society and Dictatorship in Modern German History" (University Press of New England, 2010) and "Comparative and Transnational History. Central European Approaches and New Perspectives" (Berghahn 2009, edited together with Heinz-Gerhard Haupt).

"For students ... this is a good introduction ... The assorted essays ... successfully present Kocka's methodological emphases and his wide-ranging contributions to modern German social history." . Enterprise & Society

"This fine volume brings together essays by one of the leading modern German historians, essays that give the reader an impressive overview of his work from three decades and introduce new generations of students to central questions of modern German social history." . Central European History

..". a tour de force of societal history, reminding one both of how many insights Kocka has generated through application of Weberian analytical tools." . H-Net Reviews (H-W-Civ)

..". a good introduction ... the assorted essays ... successfully present Kocka's methodological emphases and his wide-ranging contributions to modern German social history." . Enterprise & Society

..". a seminal, critically important, uniquely informative contribution to the study of German history, business, entrepreneurship, and the working class." . The Midwest Book Review

Jurgen Kocka is one of the foremost historians of Germany whose work has been devoted to the integration of different genres of the social and economic history of Europe during the period of industrialization. This collection of essays gives a representative sample of his effort to develop, by reference to Marx and Weber, new and powerful analytical tools for understanding the dynamics of modern industrial societies.

Dieser Band prasentiert die Beitrage des ersten einer Reihe von Kollquien zur Berliner Akademiegeschichte vom November 1997, in dessen Vordergrund Fragen nach der Stellung der Preussischen Akademie im Kontext der anderen deutschen Gelehrtensozietaten in der Zeit des Kaiserreichs wie auch im Kontext des Aufstiegs der Berliner Universitat und der damals entstehenden ausseruniversitaren Forschungseinrichtungen wie der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt und der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft standen."

Jurgen Kocka is one of the foremost historians of Germany whose work has been devoted to the integration of different genres of the social and economic history of Europe during the period of industrialization. This collection of essays gives a representative sample of his effort to develop, by reference to Marx and Weber, new and powerful analytical tools for understanding the dynamics of modern industrial societies.

1m folgenden werden die Er6ebnisse eines Projekts vorgelegt, an dem die Verfasser dieses Berichts 1977-1979 mit jeweils einem Teil ihrer Zeit gemeinsam gearbeitet haben. Das Projekt stand unter der Leitung des Unterzeichneten und trug den Titel "Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Familie in Westfalen von ca. 1770 bis ca. 1870, unter beson- derer BerUcksichtigung der Familien des Adels, bauerlicher Gruppen und der entstehenden Lohnarbeiterschaft". Es wurde vom Ministerium fUr Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes NRW in den Jahren 1977 und 1978 finanziel1 unterstUtzt. Das Projekt entstand im Uberschneidungsbereich von vier Dissertationen, die zum Teil bereits vor Beginn des Projektes weit fortgeschritten waren (Reif, Mooser, Ditt), zum Tei1 im Zusammenhang mit diesem Projekt konzipiert wurden (SchUren). Es handelt sich um vier Dissertationen, die an der Fakultat fUr Geschichtswissenschaft der Universitat . ielefeld einge- reicht wurden oder demnachst eingereicht werden: um die 1977 eingereichte und 1979 unter dem Tite1 "Westfalischer Adel 1770-1860. Vom Herrschaftsstand zur regiona1en Elite" erschienene Arbeit von Heinz Reif; um Josef Moosers 1978 eingereichte Dissertation "Bauerliche Gese1lschaft im Zeit- alter der Revolution 1789-1848. Zur Sozia1geschichte des politischen Verha1tens 1andlicher Unterschichten im ostlichen Westfalen"; aus der kurz vor dem AbschluB stehenden Disser- tation "Industria1isierung, Arbeiterschaft und Arbeiter- bewegung in Bielefeld 1850-1914" von Karl pitt; und um die voraussichtlich 1981 beendete Dissertation von Reinhard SchUren mit dem Arbeitstitel "Industrialisierung und Arbeiter- schaft im Baumwollindustriebezirk des westfalisch-nieder- l ndischen Grenzraums im 19. Jahrhundert".