From Feudalism to Capitalism

This groundbreaking study of the origins of capitalism in Castile sheds important new light on a number of historiographic questions. Carlos Astarita's From Feudalism to Capitalism: Social and Political Change in Castile and Western Europe, 1250-1520 presents for an English-speaking audience a major intervention in a number of debates in Marxist historiography. The book focuses on four areas. The socio-political evolution that led to the creation of the feudal state. The genesis and development of capitalist production in the rural areas of the region. Class struggle's role in shaping both of these developments. And the relationship of all these factors to the commercial flow occurring between the regions under study. Astarita re-evaluates received interpretations through meticulously researched original case studies that each greatly enrich our understanding of theoretical terms, and suggest new interpretations of the absolutist state, the temporal validity of the law of value and the origins of capitalism.