GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH, human history and the planetary catastrophe

282pp., paperback, No Place, 2023

"Cobbing’s book is based on a now-legendary 50-lecture Rhodes University undergraduate history course he first taught in 1997 and refined over 15 years before retiring ... At the heart of the course was the idea that human history could be understood as a series of crises linked to economic growth ... the self-evident truth is that our current ultra-corporatised capitalist system is dependent on unchecked growth, while the resources that our economic system consumes are finite ... This is not a new insight ... but we are continually reminded there is no technical solution to our current predicament. The central theme of Cobbing’s overview of history is the unnerving idea that the stability of our current economic order depends on our trashing the planet ... What a privilege to have been invited back into Cobbing’s lecture halls through the publication of this book." Rod Amner, Daily Maverick

Julian Cobbing, now retired, was Professor of History at Rhodes University.