Capitalism & Material Life, 1400-1800

About “Capitalism & Material Life, 1400-1800”

This work examines the quest for progress in daily life between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, focusing on demographic expansion that outstripped goods production and the resulting low subsistence levels for most people compared to the luxurious standards of the wealthy. It covers population, staple diets, housing and clothing, the spread of technology—particularly sources of power—communications, early economies and types of money, and the development of towns in both East and West.