
The End
Marx, Darwin, and the Natural History of the Climate Crisis
Joel Wainwright(Author)
Verso Books (Publisher)
Published on 25. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-80429-941-8 (ISBN)
Description
In this pathbreaking study, Joel Wainwright shows how deeply Darwin influenced Capital. Marx's thinking about history and nature changed, generating a distinctive ecological critique of capitalism as a social formation. Marx even called Capital a study of natural history.
Reviews / Votes
This thought-provoking study argues that Marx's study of Charles Darwin led him to develop a distinctively Marxian concept of natural history that provides crucial direction for promoting an eco-socialist alternative to capitalism. An incisive work that is likely to spur lively discussion and debate. -- Peter Hudis, author of <i>Franta Fanon: Philosopher of Barricades</i> The End puts us in the middle of a fascinating conversation between Marx and Darwin that most of us hardly knew was going on. Joel Wainwright elaborates a creative and fertile relationship that reveals a fuller, natural-historical Marx--an engagement that shines a surprising, insightful and powerful new light on the present. -- Geoff Mann, co-author of <i>Climate Leviathan</i>More details
Edition
Paperback original
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
10 Figures
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80429-941-8 (9781804299418)
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
11/2025
Verso Books
€28.99
Available for download
Person
Joel Wainwright, professor at Ohio State, is author of Geopiracy and Decolonizing Development, which won the Blaut award.
Content
PART I: THE EMERGENCE OF MARXIAN NATURAL HISTORY
1. Marx before Darwin
2. Darwin and the destruction of teleology
3. Marx after Darwin
PART II: READING CAPITAL AS NATURAL HISTORY
4. Labor, nature, and technology
5. From population to commodity fetishism
PART III: ELABORATIONS OF MARXIAN NATURAL HISTORY
6. A natural history of capitalism
7. Philosophical implications of Marxian natural history
8. Prospect of an end
1. Marx before Darwin
2. Darwin and the destruction of teleology
3. Marx after Darwin
PART II: READING CAPITAL AS NATURAL HISTORY
4. Labor, nature, and technology
5. From population to commodity fetishism
PART III: ELABORATIONS OF MARXIAN NATURAL HISTORY
6. A natural history of capitalism
7. Philosophical implications of Marxian natural history
8. Prospect of an end