Book review: The imperial mode of living:everyday life and the ecological crisis of capitalism by Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen

In The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism, Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen show how an ‘imperial mode of living’ underpins everyday life in the Global North, which relies upon the exploitation of people and places across the world and can only be sustained by intensifying economic and ecological crises. This book not only offers a novel grasp of the links between everyday life and global inequalities, but it also takes a stand for the necessity of politics from below, writes Stefan Schoppengerd. A version of this review was originally published by the paper express – Zeitung für sozialistische Betriebs- und Gewerkschaftsarbeit, No. 8/2017, page 16, and is reproduced here with permission. The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism. Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen (trans. by Zachary King). Verso. 2021.