{"product_id":"against-the-grain-a-deep-history-of-the-earliest-states","title":"Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"true\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content a-expander-content-expanded\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAn account of all the new and surprising evidence now available that contradicts the standard narrative for the beginnings of the earliest civilizations\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eEconomist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Best History Book 2017\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e“Scott is one of those rare academics whose writing is a thing of beauty.”—Rana Dasgupta, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Week\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e“Scott hits the nail squarely on the head by exposing the staggering price our ancestors paid for civilization and political order.”—Walter Scheidel, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWhy 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eScott 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 non subject peoples.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Read Room","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":59453743300894,"sku":null,"price":370.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":59453743333662,"sku":null,"price":500.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook","offer_id":59453784490270,"sku":null,"price":150.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1076\/7515\/6766\/files\/71edSBQyQQL._SL1500.jpg?v=1781287007","url":"https:\/\/readroombd.com\/products\/against-the-grain-a-deep-history-of-the-earliest-states","provider":"Read Room","version":"1.0","type":"link"}