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Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation

by: Silvia Federici

Publisher: Autonomedia (2004)

$19.95

Staff Pick by comrade: FG

There seems to be a full well of arguments about which - capitalism or patriarchy - reared their ugly heads first. This book provides exhaustive and compelling historical documentation to suggest that whatever hold patriarchy had on feudal Europe was completely exploited and engorged by capitalism and used to colonize indigenous populations. Perhaps what's most interesting is the lost history of just how many people were killed using methods that were developed during the witch hunts, methods that are still being used to 'develop' impoverished nations today. Totally fascinating and enraging (and equally interesting to think about why there histories are being erased - 'Trauma and Recovery' by Judith Herman is a great read to mull over similar things).