💰 Racial Capitalism

Incisive works examining how economic systems have been built upon and sustained by racial exploitation. These texts trace the entanglement of race and profit from colonial extraction to modern inequality.

How to Kill a City

by Peter Moskowitz • 2017

Four cities, one playbook: policy and profit, not hipsters, push out the poor and replace them.

4.07

4k+

🏗️ Gentrification 🏠 Housing Policy 🏛️ Neoliberal Urbanism 📈 Real Estate Speculation 🌪️ Disaster Capitalism

How to Kill a City

Four cities, one playbook: policy and profit, not hipsters, push out the poor and replace them.

by Peter Moskowitz 2017

4.07

4k+ ratings

🏗️ Gentrification 🏠 Housing Policy 🏛️ Neoliberal Urbanism 📈 Real Estate Speculation 🌪️ Disaster Capitalism

Original Sins

by Eve L. Ewing • 2025

Schools perfected America's founding crimes on Black and Native children.

4.46

2k+

📚 History Of Education 🏫 Schooling And Race ⚖️ Critical Race Theory 🏹 Settler Colonialism ⛓️ School-To-Prison Pipeline

Original Sins

Schools perfected America's founding crimes on Black and Native children.

by Eve L. Ewing 2025

4.46

2k+ ratings

📚 History Of Education 🏫 Schooling And Race ⚖️ Critical Race Theory 🏹 Settler Colonialism ⛓️ School-To-Prison Pipeline

Monopoly Capital

by Paul A. Baran • 1966

A surplus the system cannot absorb: monopoly capitalism's real engine is not production, but waste.

4.20

276

🏛️ Political Economy 🇺🇸 American Capitalism 📉 Economic Stagnation 💣 Military-Industrial Complex ⚠️ Crisis Theory

Monopoly Capital

A surplus the system cannot absorb: monopoly capitalism's real engine is not production, but waste.

by Paul A. Baran 1966

4.20

276 ratings

🏛️ Political Economy 🇺🇸 American Capitalism 📉 Economic Stagnation 💣 Military-Industrial Complex ⚠️ Crisis Theory

The Trouble with Diversity

by Walter Benn Michaels • 2006

The left traded class war for culture war, and the rich couldn't believe their luck.

3.59

516

🏛️ Class Politics 💸 Economic Inequality 🏷️ Identity Politics 🏦 Neoliberalism Critique ⚖️ Wealth Redistribution

The Trouble with Diversity

The left traded class war for culture war, and the rich couldn't believe their luck.

by Walter Benn Michaels 2006

3.59

516 ratings

🏛️ Class Politics 💸 Economic Inequality 🏷️ Identity Politics 🏦 Neoliberalism Critique ⚖️ Wealth Redistribution

Freedom is a Constant Struggle

by Angela Y. Davis • 2015

Ferguson and Palestine share a playbook of state violence. The resistance is building its own.

4.44

36k+

🚫 Prison Abolition ✊🏾 Black Feminism 🌍 Global Solidarity 🔀 Intersectionality ⚠️ State Violence

Freedom is a Constant Struggle

Ferguson and Palestine share a playbook of state violence. The resistance is building its own.

by Angela Y. Davis 2015

4.44

36k+ ratings

🚫 Prison Abolition ✊🏾 Black Feminism 🌍 Global Solidarity 🔀 Intersectionality ⚠️ State Violence

Capitalist Nigger

by Chika A. Onyeani • 2000

Economic dependency is the new slavery. The cure: become the kind of predator capitalism rewards.

3.59

477

🧱 Black Conservatism 🌍 Postcolonial Economics ✊ Black Self-Reliance 🤝 Group Economics 🪞 Internalized Oppression

Capitalist Nigger

Economic dependency is the new slavery. The cure: become the kind of predator capitalism rewards.

by Chika A. Onyeani 2000

3.59

477 ratings

🧱 Black Conservatism 🌍 Postcolonial Economics ✊ Black Self-Reliance 🤝 Group Economics 🪞 Internalized Oppression

Undoing Border Imperialism

by Harsha Walia • 2013

Borders create the displacement they pretend to prevent, then turn survivors into cheap labor.

4.51

525

🚫 Border Abolition ✊ Migrant Justice 🏚️ Settler Colonialism ⛓️ Prison-Industrial Complex 👷 Migrant Labor

Undoing Border Imperialism

Borders create the displacement they pretend to prevent, then turn survivors into cheap labor.

by Harsha Walia 2013

4.51

525 ratings

🚫 Border Abolition ✊ Migrant Justice 🏚️ Settler Colonialism ⛓️ Prison-Industrial Complex 👷 Migrant Labor

Black Folk

by Blair L.M. Kelley • 2023

Forged in slavery, the Black working class built power through community, not just wages.

4.49

417

🔨 American Labor History 💰 Black Economic History 🏭 Working Class Studies ✊ Labor Organizing 👩🏿 Black Women Workers

Black Folk

Forged in slavery, the Black working class built power through community, not just wages.

by Blair L.M. Kelley 2023

4.49

417 ratings

🔨 American Labor History 💰 Black Economic History 🏭 Working Class Studies ✊ Labor Organizing 👩🏿 Black Women Workers

Choice Theory

by William Glasser • 1999

How the frontier let America flee racism and inequality, until the wall shut the last exit.

4.01

4k+

🇺🇸 American History 🏔️ Frontier Myth 🏹 Settler Colonialism ✨ American Exceptionalism 🚧 Border Politics

Choice Theory

How the frontier let America flee racism and inequality, until the wall shut the last exit.

by William Glasser 1999

4.01

4k+ ratings

🇺🇸 American History 🏔️ Frontier Myth 🏹 Settler Colonialism ✨ American Exceptionalism 🚧 Border Politics

Red Nation Rising

by Nick Estes • 2021

Every American town is a bordertown, built on stolen land and guarded by scalp hunters' heirs.

4.38

159

🏚️ Settler Colonialism 🗳️ Native American Politics ✊ Indigenous Resistance 🚫 Police Abolition 🌱 Decolonization

Red Nation Rising

Every American town is a bordertown, built on stolen land and guarded by scalp hunters' heirs.

by Nick Estes 2021

4.38

159 ratings

🏚️ Settler Colonialism 🗳️ Native American Politics ✊ Indigenous Resistance 🚫 Police Abolition 🌱 Decolonization

Slavery by Another Name

by Douglas A. Blackmon • 2008

The 13th Amendment's exception for criminals became a new slavery that lasted eighty years.

4.38

7k+

⛓️ Forced Labor 📜 Jim Crow Era 🏗️ Reconstruction Era 🔗 Mass Incarceration Origins 🏭 Corporate Complicity

Slavery by Another Name

The 13th Amendment's exception for criminals became a new slavery that lasted eighty years.

by Douglas A. Blackmon 2008

4.38

7k+ ratings

⛓️ Forced Labor 📜 Jim Crow Era 🏗️ Reconstruction Era 🔗 Mass Incarceration Origins 🏭 Corporate Complicity

Slavery, Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution

by Maxine Berg • 2023

Sugar, copper, cotton, and credit: how enslaved labor built the Industrial Revolution.

4.42

🏛️ Economic History ⛓️ Atlantic Slavery 🏭 Industrial Revolution 🍬 Colonial Commodities 📚 Revisionist History

Slavery, Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution

Sugar, copper, cotton, and credit: how enslaved labor built the Industrial Revolution.

by Maxine Berg 2023

4.42

26 ratings

🏛️ Economic History ⛓️ Atlantic Slavery 🏭 Industrial Revolution 🍬 Colonial Commodities 📚 Revisionist History

The Wages of Whiteness

by David R. Roediger • 1991

The white working class took racial status as partial payment. The bargain was a trap.

3.99

2k+

🔨 Labor History 👤 Whiteness Studies 🧬 Racial Identity 🏛️ Antebellum America ☭ Marxist History

The Wages of Whiteness

The white working class took racial status as partial payment. The bargain was a trap.

by David R. Roediger 1991

3.99

2k+ ratings

🔨 Labor History 👤 Whiteness Studies 🧬 Racial Identity 🏛️ Antebellum America ☭ Marxist History

The Counter-Revolution of 1776

by Gerald Horne • 2014

Britain was turning against slavery. The American Revolution was the slaveholders' answer.

4.20

693

🇺🇸 American Revolution ⛓️ Atlantic Slavery 🏘️ Settler Colonialism ✊ Slave Resistance 📚 Revisionist History

The Counter-Revolution of 1776

Britain was turning against slavery. The American Revolution was the slaveholders' answer.

by Gerald Horne 2014

4.20

693 ratings

🇺🇸 American Revolution ⛓️ Atlantic Slavery 🏘️ Settler Colonialism ✊ Slave Resistance 📚 Revisionist History

Illiberal America

by Steven Hahn • 2024

American liberty as a tradition is a Cold War invention; illiberalism is the nation's true center.

4.16

318

🏛 Illiberal Politics 📚 Revisionist History 🔒 Mass Incarceration 💹 Political Economy 🔨 Labor History

Illiberal America

American liberty as a tradition is a Cold War invention; illiberalism is the nation's true center.

by Steven Hahn 2024

4.16

318 ratings

🏛 Illiberal Politics 📚 Revisionist History 🔒 Mass Incarceration 💹 Political Economy 🔨 Labor History

Slave Breeding

by Gregory D. Smithers • 2012

Historians called it myth. The enslaved knew forced reproduction was slavery's brutal core.

3.73

🏚️ American Slavery 👶 Coerced Reproduction 🧠 Collective Memory 📜 Historiography ✊🏿 Black Feminism

Slave Breeding

Historians called it myth. The enslaved knew forced reproduction was slavery's brutal core.

by Gregory D. Smithers 2012

3.73

51 ratings

🏚️ American Slavery 👶 Coerced Reproduction 🧠 Collective Memory 📜 Historiography ✊🏿 Black Feminism

Mediocre

by Ijeoma Oluo • 2020

American institutions reward unremarkable white men. Everyone pays the price, even them.

4.39

17k+

🏛️ Institutional Racism 🇺🇸 American Patriarchy 🎭 American Mythmaking ✊🏿 Black Feminism 🔀 Intersectionality

Mediocre

American institutions reward unremarkable white men. Everyone pays the price, even them.

by Ijeoma Oluo 2020

4.39

17k+ ratings

🏛️ Institutional Racism 🇺🇸 American Patriarchy 🎭 American Mythmaking ✊🏿 Black Feminism 🔀 Intersectionality

The Half Has Never Been Told

by Edward E. Baptist • 2013

Torture, not the cotton gin, drove America's economic miracle. The numbers the textbooks leave out.

4.46

6k+

🏛️ New History Of Capitalism 🌾 Antebellum South 🌿 Cotton Economy 📜 Financialization Of Slavery ⛓️ Forced Labor Systems

The Half Has Never Been Told

Torture, not the cotton gin, drove America's economic miracle. The numbers the textbooks leave out.

by Edward E. Baptist 2013

4.46

6k+ ratings

🏛️ New History Of Capitalism 🌾 Antebellum South 🌿 Cotton Economy 📜 Financialization Of Slavery ⛓️ Forced Labor Systems

The Abolition of White Democracy

by Joel Olson • 2004

American democracy was built on whiteness. Civil rights only made that foundation harder to see.

4.38

117

🏛️ Critical Race Theory ⛓️ White Supremacy ✊🏿 Black Radical Tradition 🔥 Abolitionism 📖 Political Theory

The Abolition of White Democracy

American democracy was built on whiteness. Civil rights only made that foundation harder to see.

by Joel Olson 2004

4.38

117 ratings

🏛️ Critical Race Theory ⛓️ White Supremacy ✊🏿 Black Radical Tradition 🔥 Abolitionism 📖 Political Theory

The Indispensable Enemy

by Alexander Saxton • 1971

Capitalism was the threat, but the Chinese were the target. How white labor chose its enemy.

3.88

👷 Labor History 🌉 California History 🚫 Anti-Asian Racism ✊ Labor Solidarity 🎭 Political Opportunism

The Indispensable Enemy

Capitalism was the threat, but the Chinese were the target. How white labor chose its enemy.

by Alexander Saxton 1971

3.88

42 ratings

👷 Labor History 🌉 California History 🚫 Anti-Asian Racism ✊ Labor Solidarity 🎭 Political Opportunism

The Wrath to Come

by Sarah Churchwell • 2022

Thirty million copies of a single novel taught America to love a lie. The lost cause won.

4.22

528

🏚️ Lost Cause Mythology 📜 Historical Revisionism 🎬 Cultural Criticism 🧠 Collective Memory 🏛️ Reconstruction

The Wrath to Come

Thirty million copies of a single novel taught America to love a lie. The lost cause won.

by Sarah Churchwell 2022

4.22

528 ratings

🏚️ Lost Cause Mythology 📜 Historical Revisionism 🎬 Cultural Criticism 🧠 Collective Memory 🏛️ Reconstruction

Not "A Nation of Immigrants"

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz • 2021

Behind the immigrant myth: a settler state founded on land theft, genocide, and a war economy.

4.35

1k+

🏛️ Settler Colonialism 🌎 US Imperialism 🗽 American Origin Myths 🚧 Border Politics 🪶 Indigenous Studies

Not "A Nation of Immigrants"

Behind the immigrant myth: a settler state founded on land theft, genocide, and a war economy.

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 2021

4.35

1k+ ratings

🏛️ Settler Colonialism 🌎 US Imperialism 🗽 American Origin Myths 🚧 Border Politics 🪶 Indigenous Studies

Necropolitics

by Achille Mbembe • 2016

Democracy's secret foundation is the power to dictate who lives and dies, perfected in the colony.

4.24

2k+

🧠 Political Philosophy 🔍 Critical Theory 🦠 Biopolitics 🌍 Postcolonial Theory 💥 Colonial Violence

Necropolitics

Democracy's secret foundation is the power to dictate who lives and dies, perfected in the colony.

by Achille Mbembe 2016

4.24

2k+ ratings

🧠 Political Philosophy 🔍 Critical Theory 🦠 Biopolitics 🌍 Postcolonial Theory 💥 Colonial Violence

American Exceptionalism and American Innocence

by Roberto Sirvent • 2019

American history is the original fake news: a cover story for genocide, slavery, and endless war.

4.08

287

🏛️ American Empire 🪓 Settler Colonialism 📜 National Myths ⚪ White Supremacy 📢 Propaganda Studies

American Exceptionalism and American Innocence

American history is the original fake news: a cover story for genocide, slavery, and endless war.

by Roberto Sirvent 2019

4.08

287 ratings

🏛️ American Empire 🪓 Settler Colonialism 📜 National Myths ⚪ White Supremacy 📢 Propaganda Studies

The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism

by Gerald Horne • 2018

Slavery, white supremacy, and capitalism: fused in the 1600s, they still power the modern world.

4.26

189

🌊 Atlantic History 🏚️ Settler Colonialism ◻️ Origins Of Whiteness ⛓️ Slave Trade History ✊🏿 Black Radical Tradition

The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism

Slavery, white supremacy, and capitalism: fused in the 1600s, they still power the modern world.

by Gerald Horne 2018

4.26

189 ratings

🌊 Atlantic History 🏚️ Settler Colonialism ◻️ Origins Of Whiteness ⛓️ Slave Trade History ✊🏿 Black Radical Tradition

In the Shadow of the Poorhouse

by Michael B. Katz • 1986

American welfare was designed to deter, not to help. The poorhouse closed; the logic stayed.

3.74

138

📜 Welfare History 🏚️ Poverty Studies 🔗 Structural Inequality 💰 Political Economy 📖 Critical History

In the Shadow of the Poorhouse

American welfare was designed to deter, not to help. The poorhouse closed; the logic stayed.

by Michael B. Katz 1986

3.74

138 ratings

📜 Welfare History 🏚️ Poverty Studies 🔗 Structural Inequality 💰 Political Economy 📖 Critical History

Workers on Arrival

by Joe William Trotter Jr. • 2019

America was built on Black labor, then spent four centuries finding new ways to steal it.

4.20

⛏️ Black Labor History ⛓️ Mass Incarceration 🏭 Deindustrialization 🧳 Great Migration ✊🏿 Black Labor Organizing

Workers on Arrival

America was built on Black labor, then spent four centuries finding new ways to steal it.

by Joe William Trotter Jr. 2019

4.20

41 ratings

⛏️ Black Labor History ⛓️ Mass Incarceration 🏭 Deindustrialization 🧳 Great Migration ✊🏿 Black Labor Organizing

Lynching and Leisure

by Terry Anne Scott • 2022

Lynching was entertainment, complete with chartered trains, souvenir bones, and Sunday sightseers.

4.20

📜 Jim Crow Era 🩸 Racial Terror 🎪 Public Spectacle 👻 White Supremacy ✊🏾 Anti-Lynching Activism

Lynching and Leisure

Lynching was entertainment, complete with chartered trains, souvenir bones, and Sunday sightseers.

by Terry Anne Scott 2022

4.20

20 ratings

📜 Jim Crow Era 🩸 Racial Terror 🎪 Public Spectacle 👻 White Supremacy ✊🏾 Anti-Lynching Activism

Rich Thanks to Racism

by Jim Freeman • 2021

Persistent racial inequality is not a flaw in the system. It is the business model.

4.13

🧱 Structural Racism ⛓️ Mass Incarceration 🏫 School Privatization 🛂 Immigration Policy 📊 Political Economy

Rich Thanks to Racism

Persistent racial inequality is not a flaw in the system. It is the business model.

by Jim Freeman 2021

4.13

46 ratings

🧱 Structural Racism ⛓️ Mass Incarceration 🏫 School Privatization 🛂 Immigration Policy 📊 Political Economy

The Black Jacobins

by C.L.R. James • 1938

The slaves who built France's wealth took the French Revolution's ideals and destroyed an empire.

4.39

8k+

🏝️ Caribbean History ⛓️ Atlantic Slavery 📖 Marxist Historiography ✊🏿 Slave Revolts 🌍 Anti-Colonialism

The Black Jacobins

The slaves who built France's wealth took the French Revolution's ideals and destroyed an empire.

by C.L.R. James 1938

4.39

8k+ ratings

🏝️ Caribbean History ⛓️ Atlantic Slavery 📖 Marxist Historiography ✊🏿 Slave Revolts 🌍 Anti-Colonialism

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