In this highly-anticipated revised edition of the 1981 classic, Beaud extends one of the major strengths of the original: the interweaving of social, political, and economic factors in the context of history. At the same time, Beaud's analysis provides a realistic and thorough examination of the developments of capitalism in the last twenty years, including globalization, the accelerating speed of capital transfer, and the collapse of the Soviet empire. Beaud offers a synthesis showing how capitalism has been “simultaneously economic and political and ideological; national and multinational; liberating and oppressive, destructive and creative.” Interweaving the history of key events, movements, and ideas with both theoretical modeling and carefully selected quantitative data, Beaud shows how capitalism grew and expanded, to whose benefit, and at whose expense.