Property and Prophets is a concise history of the rise and subsequent triumph of capitalism. Focused primarily on England until 1800 and the United States since 1800, the book's economic history is interspersed with the "history of ideas" that evolved along with the capitalist system. The ideas are divided between those that tended to furnish an ideological rationale for capitalism and those that tended to be critical of it. The final section discusses contemporary capitalism and the ideas of its defenders and critics. As Robert Pollin writes in the foreword to the updated edition, "Property and Prophets tells...how struggles against unjust social orders have emerged in history and how, over time, the core ideas of these struggles get imparted into the writings of economists. Property and Prophets will thus continue as a beacon for a new generation of students interested in both interpreting and changing the world."