An account of all the new and surprising evidence now available that contradicts the standard narrative for the beginnings of the earliest civilizations\nAn Economist Best History Book 2017 \"History as it should be written.\"--Barry Cunliffe, Guardian \"Scott hits the nail squarely on the head by exposing the staggering price our ancestors paid for civilization and political order.\"--Walter Scheidel, Financial Times 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.
Did our hunter-gatherer ancestors have it better?
Census workers were expected to count ‘insane’ and ‘idiotic’ Americans for half a century.
We crunched the numbers to identify the states that get up early and stay late to bring home the bacon.
Do You Live In The Most Self-Loathing State In The Nation?
The age of the “universal history” has come and gone.
Explore groundbreaking research and fascinating real-life stories with these 100 must-read books about ancient history.
One set of these beautiful historical timeline figures is all you need for kids grades K-12. Comes with or without text. Use for timelines, games, and more.
Chicago would have been in the state of Assenisipia, north of the state of Illinoia
by Lu Paradise • October 5, 2014• 1 Comment • 1,919 views You and I are certainly not allowed to know about the existence of Giants in History! By whom? By the Academia- Media- State- triumvirate…
Colonial settlers began their migration into the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley in the early 1700s. Many crossed the Potomac River at Pack Horse Ford, about one mile downriver from the moder…
Imagine the impossible. Via r/imaginarymaps.
Fueled by his passion for history, photographer Drew Gardner recreated portraits of some of the world's most famous historical figures, featuring their direct descendants as models.
by Lu Paradise • October 5, 2014• 1 Comment • 1,919 views You and I are certainly not allowed to know about the existence of Giants in History! By whom? By the Academia- Media- State- triumvirate…
