How capitalism first promoted fossil fuels with the rise of steam powerThe more we know about
the catastrophic implications of climate change the more fossil fuels we burn. How did we end
up in this mess? In this masterful new history Andreas Malm claims it all began in Britain
with the rise of steam power. But why did manufacturers turn from traditional sources of power
notably water mills to an engine fired by coal? Contrary to established views steam offered
neither cheaper nor more abundant energy-but rather superior control of subordinate labour.
Animated by fossil fuels capital could concentrate production at the most profitable sites and
during the most convenient hours as it continues to do today. Sweeping from nineteenth-century
Manchester to the emissions explosion in China from the original triumph of coal to the
stalled shift to renewables this study hones in on the burning heart of capital and
demonstrates in unprecedented depth that turning down the heat will mean a radical overthrow
of the current economic order.
