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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 today'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 family--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 "barbarians" who long evaded state control, as a way of understanding continuing tension between states and nonsubject peoples.
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Previews available in: English
Edition | Availability |
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1
Die Mühlen der Zivilisation: Eine Tiefengeschichte der frühesten Staaten
2020, Suhrkamp Verlag
Paperback
in German
- 1. Auflage
3518299344 9783518299340
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2
Die Mühlen der Zivilisation: Eine Tiefengeschichte der frühesten Staaten
Jun 17, 2019, Suhrkamp Verlag AG
hardcover
in German
3518587293 9783518587294
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3
Homo Domesticus: Une histoire profonde des premiers États
2019, La Découverte, LA DECOUVERTE
in French
2707199230 9782707199232
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4
Tahıla Karşı - İlk Devletlerin Derin Tarihi
Oct 28, 2019, Koç Üniversitesi Yayınları
paperback
6052116919 9786052116913
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5
Against the Grain
May 08, 2018, Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio, Audible Studios on Brilliance
mp3 cd
in English
1978624034 9781978624030
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6
Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
2018, Yale University Press
in English
030024021X 9780300240214
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7
Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
2017, Yale University Press
in English
0300182910 9780300182910
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8
Against the grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
2017, Yale University Press
030024021X 9780300240214
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- Created May 31, 2021
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September 13, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
May 31, 2021 | Edited by sandybucket | Edited without comment. |
May 31, 2021 | Edited by sandybucket | Added new cover |
May 31, 2021 | Created by sandybucket | Added new book. |