Against the Grain : A Deep History of the Earliest States (Hardcover)

from steve02476

Intriguing speculations about the origin of the first states, told by a Yale professor with anarchist leanings and a good understanding of the agricultural political economy. Sympathy for the barbarians!

from TheoSmit

Didn't expect to like the book as much of what he says has also been written about in Dutch papers but it's well written and gives a good overview

from rivkat

Surveys the current scholarship on the first states, which Scott suggests were mostly worse places to live than non-states because of the imposition of taxes and the lesser availability of food. Argues that the state developed centralized agriculture to control people rather than developing becau...

from ritaer

Recent research has nearly completely overturned the traditional view of humanity's progress from save (hunting and gathering) to barbarian (pastoralism) to civilization (settled agricultural states. Scott points out that many communities were sedentary before developing agriculture and some swit...

from Stbalbach

An interesting Big History approach to the perennial question of civilization versus barbarian. Scott attempts to unwind common misconceptions, showing the civilizing processes as complex and nuanced. There is no steady stream of progress from hunter gatherer to city, rather back and forth exchan...