Against The Grain, James C. Scott

 

Against The Grain:  A deep history of the earliest states by James C. Scott is a book I've wanted to read for a long time, but had a hard time finding an affordable copy.  Eventually I bought an audio version as it was cheaper than the printed version.

Started: 11/27/2022
Completed: 5/9/2023
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Generally, ancient historians have looked at the formation of cities as coincident with the creation of civilization.  Scott argues that this is a function of written histories being tied to cities.  Thus, the history is known to us from the perspective of the city dwellers.  This leaves non-city developers ("barbarians") as the uncivilized whether they were or not.  It also means that the fall of a city is equated to a fall into barbarism.  Surely, this is not accurate.  Scott argues that "barbarism" (largely a hunter/gather/raid type of organization) is a form of civilization and that if not at least half, a significant part of governance of any city area was done by the barbarians.  He further argued that the barbarians were both healthier and lived longer (particularly women) perhaps due to their varied diet.

This book makes compelling arguments and suggests that the whole concept of city making is about reducing as many people as possible to peasants and extracting their wealth (through work).  Very interesting argument that may not apply in modern society, but, then again, if it were possible, it might (see the Taliban).