The Story of Capital
What Everyone Should Know About How Capital Works
Published on 24. February 2026
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-83674-211-1 (ISBN)
Description
For decades, David Harvey has been teaching Marx's work, particularly Capital, to great acclaim. He has analysed chapter by chapter - sometimes line-by-line - Marx's three volumes and the Grundrisse. This new book opens up the mental universe of that work for a general reader.
In The Story of Capital, Harvey takes a synoptic approach to the conceptual architecture as a whole and guides us through the key moments, from labour and technology to the state and geopolitics, via the profit rate, social reproduction, the relationship to nature, fictitious capital and the return of the rentiers. In doing so, Harvey has produced a work which will become a key reference for all those trying to grasp the nature of contemporary capitalism.
In The Story of Capital, Harvey takes a synoptic approach to the conceptual architecture as a whole and guides us through the key moments, from labour and technology to the state and geopolitics, via the profit rate, social reproduction, the relationship to nature, fictitious capital and the return of the rentiers. In doing so, Harvey has produced a work which will become a key reference for all those trying to grasp the nature of contemporary capitalism.
Reviews / Votes
David Harvey unites the impossible: a broad global theoretical approach to capitalism with detailed economic analyses. As every good dialectician, he knows how to recognize a general tendency in what appears as marginal accidents of economic daily life. His knowledge goes well beyond the generalities of commodity fetishism and capitalist exploitation of nature. Although often critical of Marx, he uses Marx to explain problems we are experiencing today, from 2008 meltdown to the return of rents and the implications of Trump's playing with tariffs. His book is for everyone who wants to really understand the mess we are in, which means - it is for everyone. -- Slavoj Zizek This terrific volume brings together several decades of Harvey's original investigations of Marx's work, and deploys them to illuminate many of our contemporary economic and social problems. One of his special talents is to analyze complex arguments in precise detail using clear and accessible language. A remarkable achievement. -- Michael Hardt, author of <i>The Subversive Seventies</i> Harvey's ability to entangle the dense work and make it legible is unparalleled, and I'm looking forward to this new book about Marx's influential economic text, and what Harvey has to teach about its lessons and shortcomings for our contemporary economics and society. -- James Folta * Lit Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2026 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
546 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83674-211-1 (9781836742111)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2026
Verso Books
€33.99
Available for download
Previous edition
Book
approx. 03/2027
Verso Books
€38.59
Not yet published
Person
David Harvey teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and is the author of many books, including Social Justice and the City, The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Spaces of Global Capitalism, and A Companion to Marx's Capital. His website is http://davidharvey.org
Content
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1. PROLOGUE: A MENTAL MAP OF CAPITAL'S DOMAIN
CHAPTER 2. THE CIRCULATION OF LABOR CAPACITY AND THE ORIGIN OF PROFIT
CHAPTER 3. TECHNOLOGICAL DYNAMISM AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LABOUR
CHAPTER 4. MARX IN MANCHESTER
CHAPTER 5. THE FALLING RATE AND RISING MASS OF PROFIT
CHAPTER 6. THE EQUALIZATION OF THE PROFIT RATE
CHAPTER 7. MASSES IN MOTION
CHAPTER 8. THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE, TIME AND PLACE
CHAPTER 9. SOCIAL REPRODUCTION AND THE CIRCULATION OF LABOR POWER
CHAPTER 10. EXTRACTIVISM AND THE METABOLIC RELATION TO NATURE
CHAPTER 11. FIXED CAPITAL AND THE CONSUMPTION FUND
CHAPTER 12. THE CIRCULATION OF INTEREST-BEARING CAPITAL
CHAPTER 13. THE TROUBLESOME CASE OF FICTITIOUS CAPITAL
CHAPTER 14: ACCUMULATION BY DISPOSSESSION
CHAPTER 15. THE RETURN OF THE RENTIER
CHAPTER 16: THE STATE-FINANCE NEXUS
CHAPTER 17. THE GEOPOLITICS OF CAPITAL
APPENDIX: On Sraffa's Tail
CHAPTER 1. PROLOGUE: A MENTAL MAP OF CAPITAL'S DOMAIN
CHAPTER 2. THE CIRCULATION OF LABOR CAPACITY AND THE ORIGIN OF PROFIT
CHAPTER 3. TECHNOLOGICAL DYNAMISM AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LABOUR
CHAPTER 4. MARX IN MANCHESTER
CHAPTER 5. THE FALLING RATE AND RISING MASS OF PROFIT
CHAPTER 6. THE EQUALIZATION OF THE PROFIT RATE
CHAPTER 7. MASSES IN MOTION
CHAPTER 8. THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE, TIME AND PLACE
CHAPTER 9. SOCIAL REPRODUCTION AND THE CIRCULATION OF LABOR POWER
CHAPTER 10. EXTRACTIVISM AND THE METABOLIC RELATION TO NATURE
CHAPTER 11. FIXED CAPITAL AND THE CONSUMPTION FUND
CHAPTER 12. THE CIRCULATION OF INTEREST-BEARING CAPITAL
CHAPTER 13. THE TROUBLESOME CASE OF FICTITIOUS CAPITAL
CHAPTER 14: ACCUMULATION BY DISPOSSESSION
CHAPTER 15. THE RETURN OF THE RENTIER
CHAPTER 16: THE STATE-FINANCE NEXUS
CHAPTER 17. THE GEOPOLITICS OF CAPITAL
APPENDIX: On Sraffa's Tail