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The Story of Capital: What Everyone Should Know About How Capital Works
The world's leading Marxist geographer and economist guides general listeners through major concepts in capitalism and Marx's masterwork
For decades, David Harvey has been teaching Marx's work, particularly Capital, to great acclaim. He has analyzed 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 listener.
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 labor 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.
For decades, David Harvey has been teaching Marx's work, particularly Capital, to great acclaim. He has analyzed 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 listener.
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 labor 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.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published February 24, 2026
43 people are currently reading
515 people want to read
About the author
David Harvey
197 books1,657 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
David Harvey (born 1935) is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). A leading social theorist of international standing, he graduated from University of Cambridge with a PhD in Geography in 1961.
He is the world's most cited academic geographer (according to Andrew Bodman, see Transactions of the IBG, 1991,1992), and the author of many books and essays that have been prominent in the development of modern geography as a discipline.
His work has contributed greatly to broad social and political debate, most recently he has been credited with helping to bring back social class and Marxist methods as serious methodological tools in the critique of global capitalism, particularly in its neoliberal form.
David Harvey (born 1935) is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). A leading social theorist of international standing, he graduated from University of Cambridge with a PhD in Geography in 1961.
He is the world's most cited academic geographer (according to Andrew Bodman, see Transactions of the IBG, 1991,1992), and the author of many books and essays that have been prominent in the development of modern geography as a discipline.
His work has contributed greatly to broad social and political debate, most recently he has been credited with helping to bring back social class and Marxist methods as serious methodological tools in the critique of global capitalism, particularly in its neoliberal form.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 20, 2026
No offense to various professors, reading groups, friends, podcasts, authors and others who've tried before but I think it was David Harvey in the end who made me *really* understand capitalism (and Marx). Legendary audio lectures on Capital 🫶
(Side note: Harvey is also to blame for my white-old-man Marxism; I know there are exciting post-colonial and many other blends of post-Marxisms out there, very important for actually existing sites of struggle in the 21st century, but somehow I am stuck with this - possibly a sort of orthodox overreaction to the liberal identity politics affront of the 2010s.)
So, Harvey occupies a very special place in my bookshelf and heart so it was a given that I would check out his latest book "The Story of Capital" (Verso, March 2026).
While it's a pleasant read, there's no free lunch here: no Wikipedia nor ChatGPT that could explain Marx's analysis of capital and related philosophy and history of capitalism. I sometimes think people prefer the bogus 'supply side economics' and tautological equilibrium theories over getting real on 'capitalism' as you can literally understand this neoclassical rubbish through an Insta reel (and related obsession with 'the economy', markets and related privatization and 'less state') while comprehending the totality of capitalism is a bit of a life project in itself, a very liberating one though, personally, intellectually, politically.
Anyhow, all this to say that the book will require either a familiarity with Marx's analysis of capital or a willingness to learn quick, on the job/book so to say, as the book covers (as the title implies) the entire history of Capital, as per Marx with all the basics from Marx's 'classics' (M-C-M'; s/c +v ;-) and 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 - vis-a-vis the 21st century present.
I am not sure if Harvey was planning for this to be his final book (sub-title "What everyone should know about how capital works") but it's essentially a cumulation and evolution of all of his books, which keep evolving through the decades to make sense of recent crises 2007-8 GFC, Covid and more recent phenomena such as the rise of China in the 2000s, use of AI, climate change within a Marxist analysis of capital. So depending on 'where you left of' with Harvey, this will be the ultimate epiphany or 400 pages of very, very familiar terrain.
Ultimately, Harvey is a teacher and his objective is to make Marx's analysis of capital accessible to a wide audience as a necessary precondition to emancipate ourselves from capitalism and associated ideologies through being able to think beyond capitalism:
"....the project is ongoing, indeed never ending. The world is perpetually changing. Likewise, our understanding of it is also constantly evolving in both positive and negative ways. This book is one more step in telling the story of capital in a way that people can, I hope, understand and use both personally and politically. Collectively, we can indeed change this world, even though, as Marx points out, this is never under conditions of our own choosing. But the theoretical dissection of those conditions is a vital precursor towards changing them, and, on that basis, I offer this text in the quest to build a more humane and ecologically sensitive alternative" 😻
(Side note: Harvey is also to blame for my white-old-man Marxism; I know there are exciting post-colonial and many other blends of post-Marxisms out there, very important for actually existing sites of struggle in the 21st century, but somehow I am stuck with this - possibly a sort of orthodox overreaction to the liberal identity politics affront of the 2010s.)
So, Harvey occupies a very special place in my bookshelf and heart so it was a given that I would check out his latest book "The Story of Capital" (Verso, March 2026).
While it's a pleasant read, there's no free lunch here: no Wikipedia nor ChatGPT that could explain Marx's analysis of capital and related philosophy and history of capitalism. I sometimes think people prefer the bogus 'supply side economics' and tautological equilibrium theories over getting real on 'capitalism' as you can literally understand this neoclassical rubbish through an Insta reel (and related obsession with 'the economy', markets and related privatization and 'less state') while comprehending the totality of capitalism is a bit of a life project in itself, a very liberating one though, personally, intellectually, politically.
Anyhow, all this to say that the book will require either a familiarity with Marx's analysis of capital or a willingness to learn quick, on the job/book so to say, as the book covers (as the title implies) the entire history of Capital, as per Marx with all the basics from Marx's 'classics' (M-C-M'; s/c +v ;-) and 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 - vis-a-vis the 21st century present.
I am not sure if Harvey was planning for this to be his final book (sub-title "What everyone should know about how capital works") but it's essentially a cumulation and evolution of all of his books, which keep evolving through the decades to make sense of recent crises 2007-8 GFC, Covid and more recent phenomena such as the rise of China in the 2000s, use of AI, climate change within a Marxist analysis of capital. So depending on 'where you left of' with Harvey, this will be the ultimate epiphany or 400 pages of very, very familiar terrain.
Ultimately, Harvey is a teacher and his objective is to make Marx's analysis of capital accessible to a wide audience as a necessary precondition to emancipate ourselves from capitalism and associated ideologies through being able to think beyond capitalism:
"....the project is ongoing, indeed never ending. The world is perpetually changing. Likewise, our understanding of it is also constantly evolving in both positive and negative ways. This book is one more step in telling the story of capital in a way that people can, I hope, understand and use both personally and politically. Collectively, we can indeed change this world, even though, as Marx points out, this is never under conditions of our own choosing. But the theoretical dissection of those conditions is a vital precursor towards changing them, and, on that basis, I offer this text in the quest to build a more humane and ecologically sensitive alternative" 😻
February 24, 2026
There are two obstacles when facing Karl Marx’s Capital. The first is reading it. The second is understanding it. The question that often comes before either of these obstacles is this: is Marx’s analysis of capital, written well over a hundred years, relevant to the structure of our societies today?
David Harvey believes the answer is yes, more so than ever before. In his book The Story of Capital he synthesizes many of Marx’s most crucial points on labor and economics and applies them to the current state of our world. Through these applications, it becomes clear that the divisions of class have only become wider and the accumulation of wealth has only become more centralized. Harvey weaves these modern analyses in a way that is both illuminating of Marx’s original text and critical regarding what has changed since its publication.
Harvey emphasizes the need for a deep understanding of class, clan, and caste in our present time in order to confront the dire consequences that have developed over the course of capitalistic development. This understanding cannot be applied globally, as each country has been shaped by the forces of capital in various and unique ways. Intersectionality is essential to building a broad coalition that can present an international challenge to the status quo of global profit accumulation. Marx’s work is both canonical and simply another stepping stone towards understanding why our world has been shaped the way it has, and how it can be shaped differently. Harvey has a profound recognition of this, and this book highlights wage repression, fictitious capital, and our relations to nature as the most alarming questions facing humanity’s survival today. This book provides hope that it will not take yet another century to find those answers.
David Harvey believes the answer is yes, more so than ever before. In his book The Story of Capital he synthesizes many of Marx’s most crucial points on labor and economics and applies them to the current state of our world. Through these applications, it becomes clear that the divisions of class have only become wider and the accumulation of wealth has only become more centralized. Harvey weaves these modern analyses in a way that is both illuminating of Marx’s original text and critical regarding what has changed since its publication.
Harvey emphasizes the need for a deep understanding of class, clan, and caste in our present time in order to confront the dire consequences that have developed over the course of capitalistic development. This understanding cannot be applied globally, as each country has been shaped by the forces of capital in various and unique ways. Intersectionality is essential to building a broad coalition that can present an international challenge to the status quo of global profit accumulation. Marx’s work is both canonical and simply another stepping stone towards understanding why our world has been shaped the way it has, and how it can be shaped differently. Harvey has a profound recognition of this, and this book highlights wage repression, fictitious capital, and our relations to nature as the most alarming questions facing humanity’s survival today. This book provides hope that it will not take yet another century to find those answers.
Did Not Finish
April 10, 2026I didn’t realize that this was basically a textbook on advanced Marxist theory — my bad, above my reading level.
April 5, 2026
Covers off all the key parts of Harvey's theories. If you only read one of his serious books, this should be it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews