Capitalism in the Web of Life:Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital

Nature is not a foundation, container, or resource; it is us. As Moore tells us, we must live history as if nature matters.

If you’re interested in cutting-edge ecological thinking, Capitalism in the Web of Life is a must-read. Moore’s scope is vast, and few could pull off as ambitious an analytical achievement as he has here. There’s enough scholarship, wit and insight to leave your copy with margin notes on every page, and ideas for a lifetime. A landmark book.

Moore’s radical and rigorous work is, and richly deserves to be, agenda-setting.

An exciting major work that puts forward a new paradigm of ‘world-ecology.’

A superb and much needed book, rigorous, groundbreaking, yet accessible.

A magisterial rethinking of world environmental history. It makes for a major work of synthesis and theory.

The type of theory we should all be pursuing … If you don't have a copy of this thing already, you should get one.

Jason Moore’s Capitalism in the Web of Life is, above all else, an ambitious book. At once theoretical treatise and empirical history, Moore’s work strives toward a ‘“unified” theory of historical capitalism and historical nature’ drawn together within a new paradigm of world-ecology … Moore sets out to do nothing less than to articulate, under the name of world-ecology, a ‘new paradigm’ for critical scholarship on capitalism, world history, and environmental thought that will transcend, once and for all, the dualism that for him is the singular source of all of the violence of modernity.

Moore’s theoretical contribution, and it is major, is his insistence that value is determined by, and capitalism is dependent upon, what he calls the ‘Four Cheaps’ … His examples are wide-ranging and historical. Moore is at his best in this book when he not only ranges across centuries but also ranges across numerous fields of thought, most notably laboring to overcome the divide between Marxist value theory and ecology.

Not only does Moore provide an exceptionally powerful sense of the dystopian impact of capitalism … he also reveals a compelling dialectical grasp not just of how it might have to come to an end, but why it would be deplorable even if there were no limits to its continuing.

For nearly two decades, environmental historian Jason Moore’s ‘world-ecology’ theorisation has crossed the boundaries of sociological, historical, environmental, economic and literary disciplines. His monograph, an amalgamation of decades of research and critical writing as well as cross-disciplinary engagement in the humanities and social sciences, is likely to become central to future environmental theorisation.

Moore calls for 'a new ontological politics' to subvert the metaphysical and moral imagination of capitalist nature...Affirms historical materialism as the basis for the solution to our ecological crisis.

Jason Moore ... has produced a text that is required reading. Moore ... seeks to bring nature to the centre of historical change and a dialectical understanding of capitalism to the heart of the analysis.

Capitalism in the Web of Life is required reading for all those with an interest in the patterns of development of agriculture in capitalism, both historical and contemporary.

Few books published today have such a broad scope or are as forceful in their claims, and Capitalism in the Web of Life is certain to spark productive conversations in upper-level political ecology and critical development seminars, as well as among faculty working in a range of disciplines.