Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

Synopsis

An 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?