Capitalists in Spite of Themselves

• 1: Something Happened 2: Feudal Dynamics 3: The Limits of Urban Capitalism 4: State Formation 5: A Dead End and a Detour: Spain and the Netherlands 6: Elite Defensiveness and the Transformation of Class Relations in Britain and France 7: Religions and Ideology 8: Conclusion Notes Bibliography

Bold intervention in scholarly debates and a dense narrative grounded in an admirably broad selection of historical monographs in English and French distinguish Capitalists in Spite of Themselves. Even historians well versed in the issues will find much food for thought in Lachmann's observations on such subjects as the establishment of nation-states, early modern social relations, or the limits of popular politics. What is more, his [Lachmann's] nuanced account succeeds well in balancing structural constraints, the impact of contingent events, and human agency ... this is an important book that deserves a wide readership as much for its own thesis as for its critical overview of a mass of secondary literature.