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Sven Beckert

Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University

Sven Beckert is Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University in Massachusetts. His books include Empire of Cotton: A Global History (2014) and, co-edited with Seth Rockman, Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development (2016), and he is currently finishing Capitalism: A Global History (forthcoming).

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Written by Sven Beckert

Man carrying a bundle of sticks on his shoulder, walking across a plank over a ditch in a barren, harvested field; another person carrying sticks in the background.

essayGlobal history

Ever more land and labour

Centuries of capitalism saw the global countryside ruthlessly converted into cheap commodities. But at what cost?

Sven Beckert & Ulbe Bosma