Crack-Up Capitalism

Author Quinn Slobodian
Narrator Keith Sellon-Wright
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 4 April 2023
Run Time 9 hours
Format Audio
Genre Capitalism, Economic history, General and world history, History of ideas, Political science and theory.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Look at a map of the world and you'll see a neat patchwork of nation-states. But this is not where power actually resides. From the 1990s onwards, globalization has shattered the map, leading to an explosion of new legal entities: tax havens, free ports, city-states, gated enclaves and special economic zones. These new spaces are freed from ordinary forms of regulation, taxation and mutual obligation - and with them, ultracapitalists believe that it is possible to escape the bonds of democratic government and oversight altogether.

Historian Quinn Slobodian follows the most notorious radical libertarians - from Milton Friedman to Peter Thiel - around the globe as they search for the perfect home for their free market fantasy. The hunt leads from Hong Kong in the 1970s to South Africa in the late days of apartheid, from the neo-Confederate South to the medieval City of London, and finally into the world's oceans and war zones, charting the relentless quest for a blank slate where capitalism and democracy can be finally uncoupled.

Crack-Up Capitalism is a propulsive history of the recent past, and an alarming view of our near future.

©2023 Quinn Slobodian (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

Timely and important, eye-opening … Slobodian has done us a great service, identifying a phenomenon that needs unmasking.

The Observer

Gonzo brilliance … Unique and highly entertaining.

Financial Times

Excellent … A new generation of swashbuckling billionaires entertain the prospect of secession, using their money to realize fantasies of escape, whether through seasteading or spaceships.

New York Times

After reading historian Quinn Slobodian’s new book, you are not likely to think about capitalism the same way … great fun to read … an important guide to the current struggle over how the ruling class rules. And Slobodian ultimately raises the question of whether there are cracks in the system, or whether the cracks are the system.

Jacobin

An important historical corrective to the myths, fantasies and occlusions that have allowed dystopias such as Dubai to be presented as models for “the west” to learn from. Many of the men whose manifestos and dreams Slobodian surveys simply don’t know what they’re talking about. One wonders if they ever wanted to learn in the first place.

The Guardian

Ranging from Liechtenstein to Somalia, and from Hong Kong to Silicon Valley, Quinn Slobodian’s Crack-Up Capitalism exposes how zones of exception promise capitalism an escape from the confines of the modern state and the constraints of democracy. Revelatory reading. A worthy successor to Slobodian’s brilliant Globalists.

Adam Tooze, author of Crashed

Slobodian has written a fascinating account of the sheer hubris of the market radicals who have sought to free capitalism from democracy first by transforming the world’s political geography and now by abandoning the material world. He tells this important story with verve and considerable insight.

Helen Thompson

Lively … an engaging and fluently written account of the dreams of many philosophers, economists and, frankly, oddballs who have grown impatient with the shackles of the big state. … Slobodian is keen to highlight the often anti-democratic impulses of libertarian thinkers. … While the yearning is simple and admirable, the road map to reaching utopia is quite complicated.

The Spectator

Compelling … a challenge not just to traditional narratives of political power, but also to liberal assumptions about freedom.

Times Literary Supplement

A fascinating and important book, which brings to the surface some of the deepest political undercurrents of our times. Crack-Up Capitalism is an exemplary use of history to illuminate the present, forcing us to reassess what we thought we knew about the contemporary world.

Hari Kunzru, author of Red Pill

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