"I can say without hesitation that this is the finest book of analytic history that I have read in the past ten years. That Europe had formed a world-economy around herself historians knew. But only in general. What they had never thought about with the keenness and intelligence of I. Wallerstein's thought is that this entity provides a new framework for the subject of European history, that it is compelling, a new explanation, a new classification, indeed a revolutionary one, of received knowledge and current thought."

--Fernand Braudel, author of The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II

"It isn't just history or economics or sociology or political science. It is all of these in combination and thus places all of these fields on a new plane of understanding, It is a book that people will have to deal with, argue with, cite, learn by in order to make their own points....In sum, this is a most impressive work. I can hardly wait for the other volumes."

--Eric R. Wolf, author of Europe and the People without History

Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-2019) was Senior Research Scholar at Yale University and the former President of the International Sociological Association. He was the author of many books, including The Modern World-System, Volumes I-IV.