Deep History: A Study of Social Evolution And Human Potential (Suny Series in Radical Social and Political Theory)
Does history have a direction? Are there principles that unify  our experience and show connections among diverse places, times, and  cultures? Seeking to answer these questions,Deep Historyoffers a  fresh theory of social evolution while thinking grandly about the human  condition. With his theory based in the Marxian and historical materialist  tradition, David Laibman starts from scratch and utilizes some of the best  insights in economics and economic history, sociology, political science,  anthropology, history, and philosophy to construct a new framework for  understanding the most general aspects of social evolution. He then applies  this framework to modern era capitalist societies and, projecting it on a  postcapitalist or socialist future, captures an understanding of the core  momentum that has characterized our lived experience, a momentum  considerate of diversity, contingency, and the role of human consciousness  over time."This book contains the best overview of the key variables determining  capitalist development I've read. It makes just about all earlier work in  crisis theory look one-sided and inadequate." -- Tony Smith, author ofTechnology and Capital in the Age of Lean Production: A Marxian Critique  of the "New Economy""A book like this, which provides an historical materialist account of  history, an analysis of the nature and abstract logic of capitalism, and a  theory of socialism is going to attract criticism from all quarters. But  Laibman advances ideas that reflect years of thinking, that are clearly and  systematically developed, and that are presented in an intelligent and  well-argued way." -- William H. Shaw, author ofBusiness Ethics, Fifth  Edition