Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

James C. Scott (Author), Eric Jason Martin (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)

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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.

Listening Length

8 hours and 35 minutes
Author

James C. Scott
Narrator

Eric Jason Martin
Audible release date

21 February 2018
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B079VVCR9H
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 35 minutes
Author	James C. Scott
Narrator	Eric Jason Martin
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	21 February 2018
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B079VVCR9H
Best Sellers Rank	9,524 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 12 in Prehistoric Archaeology 17 in Asian History (Audible Books & Originals) 18 in Evolution (Audible Books & Originals)

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3 star		7%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Lozatron

Superb

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 April 2021

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Great thesis - that early states were enabled by grain (due to its ability to be stored, and its highly visible growing and harvesting, enabling taxation, that early states relied on coerced labour, and that the history of “non civilised” people is under reported, due to their lack of written records and long lasting physical structures.

Well written - seemed easier to read than his similarly brilliant “Seeing like a State”.

Notes on my scoring

5* - I will read again
4* - you should read it
3* - I’m glad I read it
2* - I wish I hadn’t read it
1* - I wish it had never been written

10 people found this helpful

Novelblue

Highly Recommended.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 October 2020

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This is a book which challenges the thinking about the development of civilisation concentrating on evidence from the early Middle East.
This challenge is summarised by the title of the final chapter "The Golden Age of the Barbarians". The weaknesses in early small civilised communities are fascinating and their dependency on slave or forced labour puts a historical perspective on our current debates about slavery. This is a book which is accessible to the non-specialist like myself and very enjoyable. My only reservation is that the repetition of the arguments later in the book takes away from the energy of the book.

4 people found this helpful

John Fletcher

Food for (lots of) thought

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 April 2018

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The idea that the movement from hunter-gathering to agriculture was a disaster for the earliest humans is not new, but here's James C. Scott to put it in the wider perspective of state-building, and the slave economies which were required to produce the agricultural surplus that funded the first states. It's a real eye-opener, even if you are broadly familiar with the argument - life in the earliest cities must have been pretty close to hell, and in some cases the whole population died of disease within a few years. And it's got worse since, of course.

9 people found this helpful

Jim Milner

The central point is interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 September 2021

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This book is written in an accessible and attractive style. It sets out and substantiates an interesting central point. Perhaps it is my failing but I was left struggling to see how significant that is or how I should view the make up of society differently as a result.

Benjamin Frankly

All our problems caused by farmers shock horror.......

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2019

Verified Purchase

It seems that we were happier and healthier as hunter gatherers, but we'll never get back to the Garden........A great read apart from the invented academic neologisms.

3 people found this helpful

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Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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