Dr. Sven Beckert

Biography

Sven Beckert is the Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University, where he focuses on the United States in the nineteenth century, particularly the history of capitalism with its economic, social, and political dimensions. He is the author of 'Empire Cotton: Global History,' which won the Bancroft Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His research has explored the connections between the nineteenth-century bourgeoisie, labor, democracy, and the global history of capitalism and slavery. Beckert teaches courses on the political economy of modern capitalism and American capitalism, including the Gilded Age and labor history. He is co-chair of the Program for the Study of Capitalism and the Weatherhead Initiative for Global History at Harvard. Beckert has also contributed to various publications addressing the history of American economic development and has worked to highlight the historical connections between Harvard and slavery. In 2011, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and currently directs the Harvard College Europe Program.

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