Since the new history of capitalism (NHOC) trend received national publicity in 2013, American historians have enthusiastically pursued the complexities and varieties of capitalism, producing a body of scholarship that offers a plethora of capitalism-modifying adjectives yet leaves capitalism undefined. “A Brief History of the History of Capitalism, and a New American Variety” asks how historians developed these varieties and interpretations, and whether any gaps or limitations remain. To answer these questions, the essay begins with a survey of the many histories of capitalism, from the first use of the term, to America’s first business histories in the early twentieth century, to world systems theory, and up to the NHOC. It then makes the case for continued attempts at redefinition and specification by offering a new variety.

This new variety, martial capitalism, has its roots in the early national and antebellum eras and influenced the evolution of capitalism in the United States. It is a system of political economy in which concealed military power, rather than abstract market forces, serves as an invisible (“invisible,” at least, to those not subjected to it) hand and bestows economic opportunity upon some individuals. Under this system, government officials and private citizens coercively acquired resources, knowledge, territory, and “free trade” agreements in the service of aggressive economic opportunism. Steady military conflict, along with scattered and localized violence, intersected with honor, a mainstay in early American politics and culture, to engender a set of masculinized economic relations that shaped both the what/where and the how of capitalism in the United States.

自2013年“资本主义新史”（NHOC）趋势在全国范围内公开以来，美国历史学家一直热情地研究资本主义的复杂性和多样性，产生了大量的学术成果，提供了大量修饰资本主义的形容词，但却没有对资本主义进行定义。 《资本主义史简史和美国新品种》询问历史学家如何发展这些品种和解释，以及是否仍然存在任何差距或局限性。为了回答这些问题，本文首先回顾了资本主义的许多历史，从该术语的首次使用，到二十世纪初美国第一部商业史，到世界体系理论，一直到国家奥委会。然后，它通过提供新品种来继续尝试重新定义和规范。

这种新的变种，即军事资本主义，根源于早期国家和内战前的时代，并影响了美国资本主义的演变。它是一种政治经济体系，其中隐蔽的军事力量，而不是抽象的市场力量，充当无形的（至少对那些不受其影响的人“看不见”）的手，并为某些个人提供经济机会。在这种制度下，政府官员和普通公民强制获取资源、知识、领土和“自由贸易”协议，为侵略性的经济机会主义服务。稳定的军事冲突，加上分散和局部的暴力，与作为美国早期政治和文化支柱的荣誉相交，产生了一系列男性化的经济关系，塑造了美国资本主义的内容/地点和方式。