Chris Harman’s book `Zombie Capitalism’ is like a breath of fresh air amongst all the establishment writings on capitalism and the latest crisis. While they look upon capitalism as a recalcitrant child that won’t behave itself, that keeps throwing unexpected tantrums, Harman shows in great detail how the behaviour of modern capitalism is inevitably driven by the need to accumulate, and to deal with the inherent tendency of the rate of profit to fall. And it’s not as if that is news even to right wing economists – they’ve seen the effects, they’ve seen the figures. But to countenance the labour theory of value, to acknowledge that capitalism doesn’t tend to equilibrium but to crisis, is political anathema. Instead they acknowledge amongst themselves that they can’t explain what’s going on. Their economic theories do not explain either the post-war boom, nor the falling rate of profit, nor the role of the state as capitalist, nor many other things. Harman presents Marx’s concepts of capitalism, explains the labour theory of value and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. He explains how capitalism has responded historically to the declining rate by increasing exploitation both within a country and abroad. He shows how the drive to accumulate led to imperialism and how the role of the state as mediator in the struggle between classes has developed into being a major capitalist power in its own right. Harman looks at the evidence behind the claims of neoliberalism to address the crisis of profitability and shows how far from showing progress, the crisis of profitability has worsened over the last thirty years. Despite claims from pundits that capitalism was entering some new phase of global capital, transnational corporation, the free flow of capital, it was still driven by the same factors. Instead of a harmonious global economy, we ended up with massive instability as the US tried to defend its market hegemony in the face of the growing internationalisation of capital.