Di Muzio (Univ. of Wollongong, Australia) examines the history of human development in an attempt to understand how the world got to the point where "our main operating system is geared towards differential capitalization and the accumulation of social power rather than the enhancement of life and the protection of our environments that sustain it." The latter he calls the "logic of livelihood," and the former is the "logic of differential accumulation." He attributes this to the power of capital and, in five "acts," he examines its history from early civilization through the present day. Act 1 looks at the agricultural revolution and the invention of money, the beginning of minority domination of the masses. Act 2 considers colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, its contribution to increased inequality. Act 3 is the fossil fuel revolution. Act 4 examines the current system of corporate capitalism and its effects on labor and the natural environment.

In Act 5, the author questions the conventional wisdom of economic growth, debt, and the global capitalist system. The book raises thought-provoking questions from start to finish. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.e conventional wisdom of economic growth, debt, and the global capitalist system. The book raises thought-provoking questions from start to finish. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

e conventional wisdom of economic growth, debt, and the global capitalist system. The book raises thought-provoking questions from start to finish. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.e conventional wisdom of economic growth, debt, and the global capitalist system. The book raises thought-provoking questions from start to finish. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.