Crack-Up Capitalism cover art

Crack-Up Capitalism

Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Crack-Up Capitalism

By: Quinn Slobodian
Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Look at a map of the world and you'll see a neat patchwork of nation-states. But this is not where power actually resides. From the 1990s onwards, globalization has shattered the map, leading to an explosion of new legal entities: tax havens, free ports, city-states, gated enclaves and special economic zones. These new spaces are freed from ordinary forms of regulation, taxation and mutual obligation—and with them, ultracapitalists believe that it is possible to escape the bonds of democratic government and oversight altogether.

Historian Quinn Slobodian follows the most notorious radical libertarians—from Milton Friedman to Peter Thiel—around the globe as they search for the perfect home for their free market fantasy. The hunt leads from Hong Kong in the 1970s to South Africa in the late days of apartheid, from the neo-Confederate South to the medieval City of London, and finally into the world's oceans and war zones, charting the relentless quest for a blank slate where capitalism and democracy can be finally uncoupled.

Crack-Up Capitalism is a propulsive history of the recent past, and an alarming view of our near future.

©2023 Quinn Slobodian (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Economic History Politics & Government Theory Imperialism City Economic disparity Economic inequality
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The World Turned Upside Down cover art
Follow the Money cover art
How Westminster Works...and Why It Doesn't cover art
The Global Police State cover art
The Hidden History of Neoliberalism cover art
Easy Money cover art
Socialism Under the Microscope cover art
How to Run Britain cover art
Belarus cover art
Uncommon Wealth cover art
Russia Without Putin cover art
Forgotten Continent cover art
Check Your Financial Privilege cover art
Against the Great Reset cover art

Critic reviews

"Ranging from Liechtenstein to Somalia, and from Hong Kong to Silicon Valley, Quinn Slobodian's Crack-Up Capitalism exposes how zones of exception promise capitalism an escape from the confines of the modern state and the constraints of democracy. Revelatory reading. A worthy successor to Slobodian's brilliant Globalists." (Adam Tooze, author of Crashed)

"Excellent... A new generation of swashbuckling billionaires entertain the prospect of secession, using their money to realize fantasies of escape, whether through seasteading or spaceships." (Jennifer Szalai)

"Slobodian has written a fascinating account of the sheer hubris of the market radicals who have sought to free capitalism from democracy first by transforming the world's political geography and now by abandoning the material world. He tells this important story with verve and considerable insight." (Helen Thompson)

What listeners say about Crack-Up Capitalism

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

Amazing tour through the mind palace of the kind of people who see themselves as "high IQ sovereign citizens" and the rest as a placid, bovine "workforce" 5/5

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great historian of neoliberalism

Slobodian continues the great work he began with ‘Masters of the Universe’, looking at the historical implications of neoliberalism.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting revealing the weakness of Capitalism

I have always thought Capitalism is the most successful of all political systems and it even trumps religion in some aspect with worldwide followers. Money money & money….
This book however explained well Capitalism is beginning to some so cracks and badly needed some updates. If it doesn’t, it will starts to lose us influence or able to motivate people to do anything for more.
Interesting read and I would have enjoy reading it as much as listening to it. The narrative is very good too.
Highly recommended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!