The Ends of the Earth

A History of the World in Five Extractions
A sweeping global history that tells the story of our modern world through the brutal extraction of five resources - iron, salt, sugar, fish, and the self.

Capitalism has shaped the world in ways both visible and hidden. It structures how we live, how we work, and how we assign value to people and resources. In The Ends of the Earth, Franco Paz explores the rise of global capitalism through a history of labour, slavery, and environmental extraction, showing how the modern world was built on the coerced work of millions across continents.

From the iron mines of Russia to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, from Iberian salt works to New England fisheries, the labour of workers in one region made possible the exploitation of others. Raw materials, commodities, and human effort moved through vast planetary networks, connecting lives, economies, and environments in ways that reshaped the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and continue to shape our world today.

Decentring traditional Eurocentric narratives, Paz reveals the human and ecological costs behind the wealth and power we take for granted. With vivid storytelling and meticulous research, The Ends of the Earth challenges readers to confront the enduring legacies of inequality, extraction, and exploitation that underpin contemporary capitalism.

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