The global capitalism of today demands a re-examination of theories of societal development. This book critically surveys the various approaches made by social theory towards seeing history in terms of its regional dynamics. Environmental determinism, modernization theory, dependency and world systems perspectives are reviewed; Richard Peet argues that historical materialism continues to prove itself the capacious and dynamic model. A quick survey takes the reader through primitive communism, lineage societies and the various kinds of tributory modes, before capitalism is examined more closely in terms of the phases and forms of its past and present. Finally, the author develops his themes to reaffirm the value of structural Marxism to theories of global development. This book assumes no previous knowledge of the theories surveyed, tries to establish a sophisticated knowledge in a few pages, and then takes the reader along the pathways of societal development theory.