The book of historian and sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky is dedicated to the formation of the modern state and its role in the formation of capitalism. Analyzing the development of leading European empires and the United States of America, the author shows how far from the truth the myth of the spontaneous emergence of a market economy and government as a factor holding back private initiative. For centuries, state power with all its power carried out "coercion to the market." The book uses a wide range of sources, including English and American periodicals of the 18th and 19th centuries. Intended both for specialists in the field of history and sociology, and for a wide range of readers.