Originally published in 1970, this book examines the origins of social organizations, the development of Robinson Crusoe economies and the conception of property or rightful ownership, as well as the origins of agriculture, race and class. Discussing commerce and the nation state, capitalist expansion and war between industrial power, the book is a concise yet comprehensive survey of the evolution of the structures of the world’s economies and of the ideas which underlie them.

Originally published in 1966, this book has enduring validity. In analysing the economic situation of the late 1960s Joan Robinson discusses the contradictions which arise from the need to readjust the organisation of society to the fantastic capacity for producing material wealth that capital accumulation and progress in technology have made possible. She maintains that the late twentieth century economic system is just an awkward corner in a continuing process of historical development .