The Historian Who Wants to Imagine an Alternative to Capitalism

On November 5, 2008—the nadir of that year’s eponymous financial crisis—Queen Elizabeth II visited the London School of Economics to celebrate the opening of a new building. In a moment that made headlines around the world, she asked her hosts about the market crash: “Why did no one see it coming?” To historians, at least, the answer appeared to be that few had been looking. Whereas the study of capitalism had once been the province of some of the profession’s most celebrated practitioners (incl...