Europe and the People Without History

Offering insight and equal consideration into the societies of the "e;civilized"e; and "e;uncivilized"e; world, Europe and the People Without History deftly explores the historical trajectory of so-called modern globalization. In this foundational text about the development of the global political economy, Eric R. Wolf challenges the long-held anthropological notion that non-European cultures and peoples were isolated and static entities before the advent of European colonialism and imperialism. Ironically referred to as "e;the People Without History"e; by Wolf, these societies before active colonization possessed perpetually changing, reactionary cultures and were indeed just as intertwined into the processes of the pre-Columbian global economic system as their European counterparts. Utilizing Marxian concepts and a vivid consideration for the importance of history, Wolf judiciously traces the effects and conditions in Europe and the rest of the "e;known"e; world, beginning in 1400 AD, that allowed capitalism to emerge as the dominant ideology of the modern era.