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Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
Review [Scotts work] has focussed on a skeptical, peasants-eye view of state formation. . . . His best-known book, Seeing Like a State, has become a touchstone for political scientists, and amounts to a blistering critique of central planning and high modernism. . . . Scotts new book extends these ideas into the deep past, and draws on existing research to argue that ours is not a story of linear progress, that the time line is much more complicated, and that the causal sequences of the standard version are wrong.John Lanchester, New YorkerAgainst the Grain delivers not only a darker story but also a broad understanding of the forces that shaped the formation of states and why they collapsed right up to the industrial age . . . an excellent book.Ben Collyer, New ScientistScott offers an alternative to the conventional narrative that is altogether more fascinating, not least in the way it omits any self-congratulation about human achievement. His account of the deep past doesnt purport to be definitive, but it is surely more accurate than the one we are used to.Steven Mithen, London Review of BooksWritten with great enthusiasm and characteristic flair . . . Scott hits the nail squarely on the head by exposing the staggering price our ancestors paid for civilisation and political order.Walter Scheidel, Financial TimesHistory as it should be written an analysis of the deep forces exposed to the eternal conflict between humans and their environment. What makes it even more welcome is that has been written with the enthusiasm of discovery.Barry Cunliffe, GuardianThe most interesting non-fiction read of the year. . . . Urgently recommended, and fun to read as well.Tyler Cowen, Marginal RevolutionFascinating. . . . Our agrarian-biased view of history, Scott concludes, could use some reworking. Most of the worlds early human populations likely enjoyed semisettled, semiagrarian lives beyond the states grasp.Suzanne Shablovsky, ScienceIn his sparkling new book, . . . Scott makes his case by tracing, step by unholy step, how human beings were led first into the agricultural fields and then into the domain of the state, bringing a vast set of conscripts into the army of supposed advancement.Samuel Moyn, The NationFascinating. . . . Thinkers like Scott remind us that who we thought we are might not necessarily be the case. Such knowledge is empowering.Derek Beres, Big Think[Against the Grain]presents a comprehensive and convincing case that the transition from hunter-gatherer nomadism to permanent, agriculturally dependent settlements was a complete disaster for humankind. . . . Whatever your political leanings, the implications of Scotts book are as fascinating as they are wide-ranging.Will Collins, The American ConservativeJames C. Scott [is] an eminent and iconoclastic political scientist. . . . In his rich and varied career, Scott has found many ways to second-guess structures that prop up the powerful. . . . Although Against the Grain is not a large book, it is a kind of thematic summa of Scotts work so far, as it reworks the entire canvas of history by reconsidering its origins through the lens of state-formation.Jedediah Purdy, The New RepublicOne of those rare books that really changes your worldview or somehow crystallizes where your mind has been trending.Andrew Sullivan, Daily Intelligencer, New York MagazineFor more than 40 years, James Scott has written about those who resist being incorporated into political-economic systems. . . . In a provocative new book, Against the Grain, Scott now challenges us to rethink legends about the state and its origins.Jacob Levy, ReasonA contemporary master of the political counter-narrative has produced a book on the origins of civilization this is, quite simply, a must-read.David Wengrow, author of What Makes Civilization?A sweeping and provocative look at the 'rise of civilization,' focusing particularly on those parts, peoples, and issues that are normally overlooked in conventional historical narratives.Alison Betts, The University of SydneyThis book is fascinating and original, containinga lesson on every page. Brilliant. James Scott is a legend.'Tim Harford, author of Messy and The Undercover Economist'Scott is at his most intellectually omnivorous in Against the Grain, drawing on a vast array of sources to upend our basic assumptions about state formation and civilization.'Edward D. Melillo, author of Strangers on Familiar Soil: Rediscovering the Chile-California ConnectionAgainst the Grain is not just a counternarrative, an outsiders skeptical reaction to received wisdom about the evolution of agricultural systems and the first states in Mesopotamia. Vainglorious kings with their generals and armies, sycophantic scribes, and royal architects and engineers are not Scotts heroes. His concerns are with urban laborers, peasants, and barbarians and the cleavage planes of resistance to rulers. Those studying Mesopotamiaand other early statestake heed.Norman Yoffee, editor of Early Cities in Comparative Perspective Read more About the Author James C. Scott is Sterling Professor of Political Science and codirector of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University. His previous books include Domination and the Arts of Resistance, Seeing Like a State, and The Art of Not Being Governed. Read more
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