Against the Grain

A Deep History of the Earliest States

By: James C. Scott

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2017 Yale University (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Challenges state-centric narratives about history

This is an accessible listen that covers a broad swath of history. I love books that challenge common knowledge with new evidence, and this book challenges received beliefs about barbarians and civilizations.

Fascinating

Well written, well argued, well read. A fantastic make-you-think book.

I enjoyed this a great deal and learned a lot. The author gift for saying things you can argue with - so many authors say things that you disagree with and it just leaves you angry or annoyed. This book was a unique one that actually drives you to think rather than just reject.

I suggest pre-gaming this book with basic knowledge of domestication and of nomadic peoples. The smattering of books I've read on both those topics helped flesh out, add to, and argue with the conclusions of this book :)

I’ll never

I’ll never look at wheat or barley the same ever again. This was a great journey through history from a interesting perspective.

For they sow not, neither do they reap

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly. Father feedeth them. Agricultural way of life is strongly presented in mythology as superior to others (maybe because this mythology was written), but it actually usually wasn't in terms of health, well being (most of the people were basically slaves), but even culture. Time in history we live like that is very short, millions VS thousands of years, we are still mostly evolutionary programmed for hunter-gatherer life, but the sedentary life allowed for rapid evolution of culture - memes, yet we are still lacking behind in genetic evolution and compatibility of your expanding agricultural way with the ecosystem. Are we just a way of life to evolve to something else - like AI or departure to universe? Or we destroy ourself at the end of anthropocene, which started thousands years ago and everything starts kind of over?

Alternative view of primary factors influencing rise and fall state power

Contrasts with many of the other views I've read re. the ebb and flow of population and state influence. Provides evidence and justification for assertions.

Why grain is humanity's most important product

This book is a fascinating look at what has happened between the lines of what has been written in most history books. Much of the information provided by the author, James C. Scott, has been either ignored or, more likely, gone completely unnoticed by traditional historians. It is his contention that human culture in the form of cities and states was not a given outgrowth of the birth of agriculture but is the result of various long-term fluctuating factors, not the least of which was climatic variabilities. I recommend "Against the Grain" to anyone interested in exploring the thought-provoking first steps by humanity in what was to become the long march over time to our society as it's structured today.

Enlightening

Though, I am not a scholar, I have found this book well researched, informative 👍

History without the academic dogma

Excellent questioning of the false academic dogma biased against free range freedom lovers and for government serfdom.

Logic and writing

James Scott’s wide-ranging use of research in archaeology, history and prehistory, epidemiology, anthropology and nutrition examines our beliefs about the earliest civilizations and stands them on their heads. Brilliant and thrilling!

Outstanding

The evolution of of states sounds so familiar. I really enjoyed it. Fast flowing, easy to listen to, well worth my time to learn about this ancient history.