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Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
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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.
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- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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At the beginning of Nonzero, Robert Wright sets out to "define the arrow of the history of life, from the primordial soup to the World Wide Web." Twenty-two chapters later, after a sweeping and vivid narrative of the human past, he has succeeded and has mounted a powerful challenge to the conventional view that evolution and human history are aimless.
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Non-Zero (but pretty close to zero)
- By Douglas on 02-06-14
By: Robert Wright
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The Future of Life
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Ed Begley Jr.
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
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Today we understand that our world is infinitely richer than was ever previously guessed. Yet it is so ravaged by human activity that half its species could be gone by the end of the century. These two contrasting truths - unexpected magnificence and underestimated peril - have become compellingly clear during the past two decades of research on biological diversity. In his dazzlingly intelligent book, Wilson describes the treasures of the natural world we are about to lose forever and how we can save them.
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A scientifically-grounded case for the environment
- By Lucas on 01-24-10
By: Edward O. Wilson
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1491
- New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Darrell Dennis
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus' landing had crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago; existed mainly in small nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas were, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last 30 years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.
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Exposes Non-Academic Audience to The Debate Between Ideas of Pre-Colombian America's
- By Christopher on 01-19-17
By: Charles C. Mann
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Why the West Rules - for Now
- The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future
- By: Ian Morris
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 24 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Sometime around 1750, English entrepreneurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal, and the world was forever changed. The emergence of factories, railroads, and gunboats propelled the West’s rise to power in the nineteenth century, and the development of computers and nuclear weapons in the 20th century secured its global supremacy.
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Compelling and infuriating take at World History
- By Skeptical on 09-11-11
By: Ian Morris
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Work
- A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
- By: James Suzman
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Work defines who we are. It determines our status and dictates how, where, and with whom we spend most of our time. It mediates our self-worth and molds our values. But are we hardwired to work as hard as we do? Did our Stone Age ancestors also live to work and work to live? And what might a world where work plays a far less important role look like? To answer these questions, James Suzman charts a grand history of "work" from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are.
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if you like Jared Diamond's work, you'll like this
- By Mark on 04-09-22
By: James Suzman
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The Great Warming
- Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
- By: Brian Fagan
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The history of the Great Warming of a half millennium ago suggests that we may yet be underestimating the power of climate change to disrupt our lives todayand our vulnerability to drought, writes Fagan, is the silent elephant in the room.
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Good book but unpracticed, disjointed narration.
- By Paul on 09-12-10
By: Brian Fagan
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1493
- Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.
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Fascinating Mindbending History.
- By Betsy Powel on 12-19-11
By: Charles C. Mann
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Dark Emu
- Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?
- By: Bruce Pascoe
- Narrated by: Bruce Pascoe
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been understated in modern retellings of Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required.
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One of the best books ever!!!!
- By Matt Powers on 05-07-18
By: Bruce Pascoe
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Unbound
- How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink
- By: Richard L. Currier
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.
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Good facts, not much else
- By Joel B. Gordon on 10-30-16
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Ancestral Journeys
- The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings (Revised and Updated Edition)
- By: Jean Manco
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This paradigm-shifting book paints a spirited portrait of a restless people that challenges our established ways of looking at Europe's past. The story is more complex than at first believed, with new evidence suggesting that the European gene pool was stirred vigorously multiple times. Genetic clues are also enhancing our understanding of European mobility in epochs with written records, including the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, the spread of the Slavs, and the adventures of the Vikings.
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Needs pictures.
- By Ray on 11-21-20
By: Jean Manco
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Mesoamerican History: A Captivating Guide to Four Ancient Civilizations That Existed in Mexico
- The Olmec, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec Civilization
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: David Patton, Duke Holm
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of Mesoamerica, then check out this four-in-one audiobook. You'll learn all about the Olmec, Zapotec, Mayan, and Aztec people.
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Excellent....clear, absorbing.
- By Mu'adh Kameel Bishara on 11-17-18
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Great text; poor narration
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Debt - Updated and Expanded
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Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
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What listeners say about Against the Grain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dipam
- 12-28-21
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Unsatiscus
- 01-19-22
Enlightening
Though, I am not a scholar, I have found this book well researched, informative 👍
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- Mickey Spinoch
- 07-31-23
History without the academic dogma
Excellent questioning of the false academic dogma biased against free range freedom lovers and for government serfdom.
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- Barbara Locklin
- 12-15-23
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!
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- Willie the Shoe
- 11-03-18
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.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-14-22
Great Read!!
This was an excellent explanation of the forces that have shaped human history throughout the last 12,000 years
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- Kevin
- 02-09-23
good
inspiring and enlightening story. comprehensible to the average history reader. yet somehow in parts incredibly boring.
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- Logan Jones
- 09-27-23
Best book I’ve stumbled across in awhile!
A well thorough and well researched history of deep states. I really enjoyed this one
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- John
- 01-25-20
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.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-13-21
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 :)
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