The Enchantments of Mammon

ExtraordinaryLike MacIntyre, McCarraher both recognizes and detests capitalisms spoliations of creation and disintegration of communities, and casts a fond, forlorn eye toward the possibility of restoring a rationality of genuine human lifeA majestic achievement. It will enjoy a long posterityIt is a work of great moral and spiritual intelligence, and one that invites contemplation about things we cant afford not to care about deeply. -- David Bentley Hart * Commonweal * [A] monumental labor of loveThere have been marvelous studies of contemporary capitalism published in recent yearsBut this is an extraordinary work of intellectual history as well as a scholarly tour de force, a bracing polemic, and a work of Christian prophecyIt is beautifully written and a magnificent readMcCarraher challenges more than 200 years of post-Enlightenment assumptions about the way we live and workThis mammoth portrait of the religious longings at the heart of secular materialism carries a bleak message: 20th-century fantasies of the world as one global business have been realizedRefreshingly original and splendidly pulled off. * The Observer * McCarrahers book is more brilliant, more capacious, and more entertaining, page by page, than his most ardent fans dared hope. The magnitude of his accomplishmentan account of American capitalism as a religion that begins in early modernity and extends to the present, an analysis that goes far beyond the loose versions of this argument weve seen before (Economists are like clergy! The Fed is like a church!) and rewrites American intellectual history as it does sowill stun even skeptical readersIt is a wonder, an enchantment on a world that has so forgotten itself as to think enchantments rare. -- Philip Christman * Christian Century * A monumental, scholarly but also readable survey of how the champions of capitalism, their acolytes and foot soldiersover and over, and with conspicuous successreframed traditional religious longings and beloved communities as goals that could be achieved through the pursuit of profitAs enthralling a work of intellectual history as you could hope to read. -- Michael Duggan * Catholic Herald * A beguiling 800-page tour de force[A] sweeping historyThe author claims, with considerable evidence, that capitalism, too, is a form of worship, that it is a religion of modernityScintillating. -- Donald Sassoon * Church Times * A genuine delight to read[A] searing excoriation of economics as it is currently practicedAn extraordinary bookIt is difficult to characterize this book as anything but a masterpiece for its synthesis of intellectual history, anticapitalist polemic, and Romantic imagination. There is a great deal to be gained from McCarrahers arguments. -- Daniel Walden * Current Affairs * One of the most impressive books Ive ever readThe depth and range of McCarrahers scholarship are incredibleA must-read for anyone serious about the mesmerizing power of capitalism. -- Mark Dunbar * The Humanist * A vitally important bookIt could have an impact similar to Alasdair MacIntyres After VirtueCertainly it is a book people concerned about the state of the world and moral theology should be aware ofMcCarraherexplains how capitalism has become the religion of the modern worldThis detailed account of the idolatries of our age deserves wide readership and detailed examination. -- Frank Litton * Irish Catholic * The Enchantments of Mammon is a beautiful, stirring achievement. In a bold new synthesis ranging from early modern Europe to the contemporary United States, McCarraher challenges the received wisdom regarding the meanings of modernity and rationality, allowing us to look at familiar concepts in fresh and fruitful ways. This is truly a game-changerthe history of capitalism will never look the same again. -- Jackson Lears, author of <i>Rebirth of a Nation</i> With

Eugene McCarraher is Associate Professor of Humanities at Villanova University and the author of Christian Critics: Religion and the Impasse in Modern American Social Thought. He has written for Dissent and The Nation and contributes regularly to Commonweal, The Hedgehog Review, and Raritan. His work on The Enchantments of Mammon was supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.