Ellen Meiksins Wood (April 12, 1942 January 14, 2016) was an American-Canadian Marxist political theorist and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

Biography

Wood was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on April 12, 1942, as Ellen Meiksins one year after her parents,

Latvian Jews The history of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571. Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War (1700–1721), which decimated Latvia's population.R. O. G. Urch. Latvi ...

active in the Bund, arrived in New York from Europe as political refugees. She was raised in the United States and Europe. Wood received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, in 1962 and subsequently entered the graduate program in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

, from which she received her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in 1970. From 1967 to 1996, she taught political science at

Glendon College Glendon College is a public liberal arts college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Formally the federated bilingual campus of York University, it is one of the school's nine colleges and 11 faculties with 100 full-time faculty members and a student po ...

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. With

Robert Brenner Robert Paul Brenner (; born November 28, 1943) is a professor emeritus of history and director of the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History at UCLA, editor of the socialist journal ''Against the Current'', and editorial committee member ...

, Ellen Meiksins Wood articulated the foundations of political Marxism, a strand of Marxist theory that places history at the centre of its analysis. It provoked a turn away from structuralisms and

teleology Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

towards historical specificity as contested process and lived

praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion * Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...

. Meiksins Wood's many books and articles were sometimes written in collaboration with her husband, Neal Wood (1922–2003). Her work has been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Romanian, Turkish, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Of these, ''The Retreat from Class'' received the

Deutscher Memorial Prize The Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize is an annual prize given in honour of historian Isaac Deutscher and his wife Tamara Deutscher for a new book published in English "which exemplifies the best and most innovative new writing in or about ...

in 1988. Wood served on the editorial committee of the British journal ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal covering world politics, economy, and culture, which was established in 1960. History Background As part of the British "New Left" a number of new journals emerged to carry commentary on m ...

'' between 1984 and 1993. From 1997 to 2000, Wood was an editor, along with

Harry Magdoff Harry Samuel Magdoff (August 21, 1913 – January 1, 2006) was a prominent American socialist commentator. He held several administrative positions in government during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later became co-editor of the M ...

and

Paul Sweezy Paul Marlor Sweezy (April 10, 1910 – February 27, 2004) was a Marxist economist, political activist, publisher, and founding editor of the long-running magazine ''Monthly Review''. He is best remembered for his contributions to economic theory ...

, of '' Monthly Review'', the socialist magazine. In 1996, she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, a marker of distinguished scholarship. She and Neal Wood divided their time between England and Canada until he died in 2003. In 2014, she married

Ed Broadbent John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 200 ...

, former leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, with whom she lived in Ottawa and London for six years until her death from cancer at the age of 73.

Books

Sole author

''Mind and Politics: An Approach to the Meaning of Liberal and Socialist Individualism''
University of California Press, 1972.
''The Retreat from Class: A New 'True' Socialism''
Schocken Books, 1986. . Verso Classics, January 1999. Reprint with new introduction. .
''The Pristine Culture of Capitalism''
Verso, 1992. .
''Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism''
Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Excerpt available here
* ''Peasant-Citizen and Slave: The Foundations of Athenian Democracy''. Verso, February 20, 1997. . * ''

The Origin of Capitalism ''The Origin of Capitalism'' is a 1999 book on history and political economy, specifically the history of capitalism, by the political theorist Ellen Meiksins Wood, written from the perspective of political Marxism. It was reviewed as an "Outstand ...

''. Monthly Review Press, 1999, 120 pp. , . Revised edition:
The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View
'. Verso Books, 2002, 213 pp. , . *
Empire of Capital
'' Verso, 2003. ; paperback : Verso, 2005. .
''Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages''
Verso, 2008. . *
Liberty & Property: A Social History of Western Political Thought from Renaissance to Enlightenment
'' Verso, 2012. .

Co-authored with Neal Wood

* ''Class Ideology and Ancient Political Theory: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in Social Context''. Oxford University Press, 1978. * ''A Trumpet of Sedition: Political Theory and the Rise of Capitalism, 1509-1688''. New York University Press, 1997 and London: Pluto Press, 1997.

Co-edited collections

* ''In Defense of History: Marxism and the Postmodern Agenda,'' ed. with John Bellamy Foster. Monthly Review Press, 1997. * ''Capitalism and the Information Age: The Political Economy of the Global Communication Revolution,'' ed. with

Robert W. McChesney Robert Waterman McChesney (; born December 22, 1952) is an American professor notable in the history and political economy of communications, and the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor ...

and

John Bellamy Foster John Bellamy Foster (born August 15, 1953) is an American professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and editor of the '' Monthly Review''. He writes about political economy of capitalism and economic crisis, ecology and ecological crisis ...

. Monthly Review Press, 1998. * ''Rising from the Ashes? Labor in the Age of "Global" Capitalism,'' ed. with Peter Meiksins and Michael Yates. Monthly Review Press, 1998.

Publications available online

References

External links

Interviews
"Interview with Ellen Meiksins Wood - Democracy & Capitalism: Friends or Foes?"
(January–February 1996).
"An interview with Ellen Meiksins Wood"
by Christopher Phelps. ''Monthly Review'', Vol. 51, No. 1 (May 1999).
Downloadable radio interview on the origins of capitalism
Book reviews
"Happy Campers"
book review of ''Why Not Socialism?'' by G.A. Cohen, '' London Review of Books'', Vol. 32, No. 2 (January 28, 2010) etrieved April 18, 2010
"Why It Matters"
book review of ''Hobbes and Republican Liberty'', by Quentin Skinner. '' London Review of Books'', Vol. 30, No. 18 (September 25, 2008) etrieved April 18, 2010 Obituaries
Marxism loses a passionate champion
by

Alex Callinicos Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internati ...

, ''Socialist Review'', 410 (February 2016).
Remembering Ellen Meiksins Wood
by Vivek Chibber, ''Jacobin'' (January 2016). * Frances Abele, George Comninel and Peter Meiksins, 'Socialism and democracy: the political engagements of Ellen Meiksins Wood', ''Studies in Political Economy: A Socialist Review'', 97 (2016), 320-36, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07078552.2016.1249124 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Ellen Meiksins 1942 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians American Marxist historians American people of Latvian-Jewish descent American women political scientists American political scientists American political philosophers American women historians Canadian Marxists Women Marxists Critics of postmodernism Deaths from cancer in Ontario Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Jewish American historians Jewish socialists Marxist theorists Deutscher Memorial Prize winners UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni York University faculty 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women