“WHO CONTROLS THE PAST CONTROLS THE FUTURE, WHO CONTROLS THE PRESENT CONTROLS THE PAST.” George Orwell, 1984.

We first interviewed Harvard University’s Laird Bell Professor of History, Sven Beckert, when his tremendously informative Bancroft Prize winning book, EMPIRE OF COTTON: A GLOBAL HISTORY, was published in 2015. It weighed in at a respectable 640 pages.

His most recent tome, CAPITALISM: A GLOBAL HISTORY, dwarfs that earlier work at over 1,320 pages. In it he traces over the past thousand years, what he calls “the most impactful revolution the world has ever seen.” His exhaustive research took him to the archives on 6 continents, however it is anything but a dry disquisition. Rather it is people focused – examining their agency, resistance, ruthless coercion and innovations. From the merchants of 12th Century Aden, Yemen circulating goods from Asia, Africa and Europe to the workers in this decade’s sweat shops in Cambodia, he chronicles the ever adapting transformations of Capitalism.
We spoke with Sven Beckert, who was somewhere in Europe on January 13, 2026 via Zoom.

This edition of Forthright Radio is dedicated to the memory of Renee Nicole Good and the thousands of Iranians who have been killed demanding freedom and justice in their homelands, as well as the thousands more spurred on by the same imperatives and their courageous examples, who continue to brave dangerously cold weather and disproportionately armed agents of the state .

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Capitalism by Sven Beckert review – an extraordinary history of the economic system that controls our lives https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/23/capitalism-by-sven-beckert-review-an-extraordinary-history-of-the-economic-system-that-controls-our-lives

E.U. and South America to Form Free-Trade Zone With 700 Million People https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/business/economy/european-union-mercosur-trade.html

The Oil Company Drilled. The Government Slaughtered. Who Is Guilty? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/opinion/the-oil-company-drilled-government-slaughter-guilty.html

In Davos, the rich talk about ‘global threats’. Here’s why they’re silent about the biggest of them all https://www.theguardian.com/global/2026/jan/19/davos-rich-global-threat-economic-inequality-wealth

“The Secret Economic History of the World” with Pulitzer finalist Sven Beckert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3HZNxljhNc

‘Endangered lawyer’ day highlights US justice system’s plummeting standing https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/lawyers-judges-intimidation-trump

Thousands of workers flee Cambodia scam centres, officials say https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/21/thousands-of-workers-flee-cambodia-scam-centres-officials-say

ICE Said Agents Can Enter Homes Without Judicial Warrant, Group Claims https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/us/politics/ice-warrant-whistleblower.html

The Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Fascists In Our Midst (Paul Cargnello w/Jonathan Emile) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2WgEOr-jaI&list=RDl2WgEOr-jaI&start_radio=1

I’m watching myself on YouTube saying things I would never say. This is the deepfake menace we must confront https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/05/deepfakes-youtube-menace-yanis-varoufakis