As I understand it from studying other topics in the history of medieval Europe, capitalism, or what was to become capitalism, had its origins in the growth of towns, in particular the towns of Northern Italy, and was a well developed system long before the industrial revolution in the North of Europe. I'm looking for recommendations for a good, reasonably academic history of the origins and development of capitalism that could build on, supplement and correct the wrong parts of what little I already know. Any ideas?
Thanks so much!
There's an number of "classic" accounts of the origin of capitalism that I've come across as an anthropology grad student, but it's not at all my specialty so I'm not in a great position to help you sift through them. In fact, if you're familiar with medieval Europe you're probably way ahead of me on this. Still, if you haven't read them, here's a few you might want to look at:
Karl Polyani's The Great Transformation focuses specifically on England's transition to a market economy. Personally, I found it really interesting, but you seem to be looking for something that goes a broader than this. (E. P. Thompsons' The Making of the English Working Class is another classic in this vein, and is also great).
You might like Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which deals with Northern Europe more broadly, but for that also lacks a lot of historical detail.
One of the most comprehensive works I'm aware is Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Centuries (English trans. Siân Reynolds). It's a pretty enormous work in 3 volumes, but it looks to me like this lines up pretty closely with your interest.
Sorry I don't know anything more current! (Braudel's the most recent here and h published in 1979!). I hope somebody who actually works on it can give you something better, I'd like to read up on it as well.