Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

An account of all the new and surprising evidence now available for the beginnings of the earliest civilizations that contradict the standard narrative

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains, and governed by precursors of todayâ€™s states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative. The first agrarian states, says James C. Scott, were born of accumulations of domestications: first fire, then plants, livestock, subjects of the state, captives, and finally women in the patriarchal familyâ€”all of which can be viewed as a way of gaining control over reproduction.

Scott explores why we avoided sedentism and plow agriculture, the advantages of mobile subsistence, the unforeseeable disease epidemics arising from crowding plants, animals, and grain, and why all early states are based on millets and cereal grains and unfree labor. He also discusses the â€œbarbariansâ€ who long evaded state control, as a way of understanding continuing tension between states and nonsubject peoples.
Country USA
Manufacturer Yale University Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2017-08-01
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Yale University Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2017-08-01
Format	Kindle eBook