James C. Scott is Sterling Professor of Political Science and codirector of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University.
“Written 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 Times
“[Scott’s work] has focussed on a skeptical, peasant’s-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.’ . . .
Scott’s 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 Yorker
“Against 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 Scientist
“Scott 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 doesn’t purport to be definitive, but it is surely more
accurate than the one we are used to.”—Steven Mithen, London Review
of Books
“Forget the Paleo Diet: Scott goes all the way in showing how early
nomadic peoples in the Fertile Crescent were fitter, happier and
more productive than the semi-enslaved ziggurat-builders of the
ancient Mesopotamian cities.”—James Whipple (M.E.S.H), Frieze
“This is an important book, which should be read by every educated
person. The story it tells is so different, so opposed, to the
received narrative it deserves to be everywhere known. Scott’s
presentation of evidence is so complete that the received narrative
simply can no longer stand. Additionally, Scott writes extremely
well: a clear, unambiguous, approachable style, with occasional
sparkles of gentle humour to ease the way. The book is an
intellectual delight.”—George Gale, Metascience
“Scott’s original book is history as it should be written.”— Barry
Cunliffe, Guardian
“James C. Scott’s oeuvre is among the most important in
contemporary political theory. Against the Grain is a significant
addition to it, as Scott issues the challenge of an
anti-authoritarian approach to our political origins.”—Crispin
Sartwell, Times Literary Supplement
“Scott’s research is extraordinarily meticulous and detailed, and
the lives of his imagined first citizens are unlike anything
existing today. . . . Against the Grain deserves a wide readership.
It has made me look afresh at the urban world.”—Tim Flannery, New
York Review of Books
“Fascinating.”—George Monbiot, Guardian
“History 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 it has been
written with the enthusiasm of discovery.”—Barry Cunliffe,
Guardian
An Economist Best History Book 2017
“Against the Grain is likely bound to shape how we think about this
topic for years to come.”—Johann Strube, Agriculture and Human
Values
“Against the Grain delivers what is says on the tin and is a fine
piece of historical counter-narrative, with elements of
environmental history woven throughout. . .This results in a book
that is fascinating, readable, but above all thought-provoking. It
certainly made me ponder the ‘civil’ part in civilization.”—Leon
Vlieger, Natural History Book Service
“The value of the book . . . is precisely in the sorts of
provocative questions it raises and the debates it will spark.
Scott brings archaeology into one of the most important insights of
his wider project, that states are neither inevitable nor neutral.
In doing so, he has created a space in which archaeology becomes
relevant for current political concerns, and for this reason alone
his book should be widely read.”—Antiquity
“James C. Scott is one of the historians of our times who delights
in compelling us to rethink received wisdom and chart out fresh
trajectories through the past, even as he constantly reminds us of
our present locations. In reading his works, we anticipate
challenges, irreverence and insights. This slim volume does, to
some extent, live up to these expectations.”—Kumkum Roy, Studies in
History
“James Scott’s latest volume is a wide-ranging yet incisive
synthesis of the origins of civilization within the context of
early sedentism, agro-ecology and the fragility of the archaic
state.”—Vernon L. Scarborough, Human Ecology
“This is an important book, which should be read by every educated
person. The story it tells is so different, so opposed, to the
received narrative it deserves to be everywhere known. Scott’s
presentation of evidence is so complete that the received narrative
simply can no longer stand. Additionally, Scott writes extremely
well: a clear, unambiguous, approachable style, with occasional
sparkles of gentle humor to ease the way. The book is an
intellectual delight.”—George Gale, Metascience
“In an authoritative and gripping re-imagining of human history,
Scott dives deep into the initial development of farming several
thousand years ago. This book led me to revisit my ideas about the
past and to ponder anew about life in the present.”—Alison Richard,
The Week
Finalist for the 2018 CT Book Award
“I admire Against the Grain very much. It is the most confirming
and clarifying book about agriculture that I have read in a long
time.”—Wendell Berry, as written in a letter to James C. Scott
“This is a brilliant, accessible, and highly original account of
the origins of sedentism, farming, states, and the relations
between agrarian and nomadic communities. It should attract a wider
audience than any of Scott’s earlier books.”—J. R. McNeill,
co-author of The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of
the Anthropocene since 1945
“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 Sydney
“Brilliant, sparkling, dissident scholarship. In Scott’s hands,
agriculture looks like a terrible choice, states and empires look
fragile, ephemeral, and predatory, and the ‘barbarians’ beyond
their borders lived in relative freedom and affluence.”—David
Christian, Macquarie University, Sydney
“This book is fascinating and original, containing a lesson on
every page. Brilliant. James Scott is a legend."—Tim Harford,
author of Messy and The Undercover Economist
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