book review

[Carrol Cox]

Re Wood, Origin of Capitalism. The work is controversial.
I think it, along with her *Democracy against Capitalism:
Renewing Historical Materialism* and her earlier *The
Retreat From Class: The New 'True Socialism'*, are
among the most important Marxist books of the last
half century. I'm at present reading her *The Pristine
Culture of Capitalism: A Historical Essay on Old Regimes
and Modern States*, and finding it illuminating. *The
Origin of Capitalism* is in some ways a long footnote
to *Democracy against Capitalism*.

If you want to see vitriolic debates swirling around
her work, check the archives of pen-l and marxism
lists under the heading of "Brenner Debate" or
"Eurocentrism."

Carrol