This text combines the essays of seven leading economists, including Robin Hahnel and John Bellamy Foster, in a critical assessment of the relationship between economic thought and the dominance of capitalism. With subjects ranging from Karl Marx to Amartya Sen, the book traces the growth of the capitalist system over the past 200 years and how economic theory has, in fact, become capitalist ideology. Relating socio-economic and analytical histories to present-day economic policy, this work is designed to be a comprehensive introduction to the key thinkers in economic thought past and present.