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The Social History of Agriculture

From the Origins to the Current Crisis

Christopher Isett and Stephen Miller

This innovative text provides a compelling narrative world history through the lens of food and farmers. Tracing the history of agriculture from earliest times to the present, Christopher Isett and Stephen Millerargue that people, rather than markets, have been the primary agents of agricultural change. Exploring the actions taken by individuals and groups over time and analyzing their activities in the wider contexts of markets, states, wars, the environment, population increase, and similar factors, the authors emphasize how larger social and political forces inform decisions and lead to different technological outcomes. Both farmers and elites responded in ways that impeded economic development. Farmers, when able to trade with towns, used the revenue to gain more land and security. Elites used commercial opportunities to accumulate military power and slaves. The book explores these tendencies through rich case studies of ancient China; precolonial South America; early-modern France, England, and Japan; New World slavery; colonial Taiwan; socialist Cuba; and many other periods and places. Readers will understand how the promises and problems of contemporary agriculture are not simply technologically derived but are the outcomes of decisions and choices people have made and continue to make.
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Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 422 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-4422-0966-4 • Hardback • November 2016 • $136.00 • (£105.00)
978-1-4422-0967-1 • Paperback • November 2016 • $62.00 • (£48.00)
978-1-4422-0968-8 • eBook • November 2016 • $58.50 • (£45.00)
Subjects: History / World, History / Europe / General, History / Social History, History / Asia / General, History / Latin America / General, History / Middle East / General, History / Africa / General, History / General, Social Science / Agriculture & Food
Courses: History; World History; General, History; World History; Survey
Christopher Isett is associate professor of history at the University of Minnesota.
Stephen Miller is associate professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Introduction
Chapter 1: Settled Agriculture: The Ancient Origins of Community, State, and Empire
Chapter 2: From Antiquity to the Eve of Agrarian Capitalism: Peasants and Dynastic States
Chapter 3: Agrarian Capitalism in the Early Modern World: Divergence in Eurasia
Chapter 4: Malthusian Limits in the Early Modern World: Peasants and Markets
Chapter 5: The New World: Planters, Slaves, and Sugar
Chapter 6: American Farming: Agrarian Roots of U.S. Capitalism
Chapter 7: New Imperialism: Colonial Agriculture in the Age of Capitalism
Chapter 8: Socialist Agriculture: Collectivization in Three Countries
Chapter 9: Late Development: State-led Agrarian Change after World War II
Chapter 10: Corporate Agriculture: Comparing the United States and Brazil
Conclusion
An ambitious synthesis of twelve thousand years of world agricultural history. Through a social history approach that encompasses the study of political and economic systems, the authors contend that throughout history 'people’s choices of what to grow, the technologies to use, and the labor regime to employ are shaped by their societies.' Such an approach allows for a nuanced discussion of complex agricultural developments that expands this topic beyond an emphasis on market forces. . . . Through a comparative approach that maintains attention to detail and cultural difference, this book succeeds as a comprehensive narrative history of the development of agriculture. . . . Isett and Miller have written a history of world agriculture that successfully addresses key questions for different eras. Readers interested in world agriculture of the past and present will find this work insightful.
— Agricultural History


In an extraordinary feat of interpretation, Christopher Isett and Stephen Miller have produced a theoretically informed history of agriculture, from its origins nine thousand years ago to the present. They have synthesized vast historical literatures on every major phase in the development of farming, from the rise of sedentary production, through the transition to capitalism, to the green revolution and beyond. They have also provided their own, always-illuminating resolutions of the debates over conceptual framework that have defined the field. An invaluable contribution for scholars, students at all levels, and general readers alike, it truly is a tour de force.
— Robert Brenner, University of California–Los Angeles


Isett and Miller…populate their global survey of agricultural heritage with specific illustrations, widely diverse in time and region, to argue against the notion that growth in population and urban development created a need for additional agricultural commodities, which in turn created opportunities for producers to increase output, consume alternate goods, and focus on production of commodities of highest return. More generally, the authors explain agricultural phenomena less in stark economic terms and more in line with the sociopolitical phenomena and climate they believe more fully influenced agricultural development. Although their scope is primarily Western, Isett and Miller do look at examples in Africa, China, Taiwan, and Latin America. Chapters on socialist agriculture, and on corporate agriculture in Brazil and the United States, provide a good insight into two very influential patterns that developed at different points in the 20th century and beyond. Given this work’s scope and complexity, it is recommended primarily for higher-level students, faculty, and professionals involved with agricultural economics and history.

Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.

— Choice Reviews


The Social Origins of Agriculture has many strengths which will enrich world history courses. This is an expansive narrative, extending from the late Neolithic to the present, and offering a rare overview of the entire sweep of agricultural history. . . . [T]wo of the book's strengths [are] its commitment to develop expansive comparisons across time [and] its emphasis on farmers themselves. . . . Isett and Miller extend their analysis back to the beginning, making for a provocative and useful study. It has only been a decade since the world's rural population fell under 50%. In our classes, narratives focused on urbanization, individualism and industrialization eclipse those focused on rural landscapes, village life, and agrarian production. Reading Isett and Miller can suggest opportunities to rethink that balance.
— World History Connected


This highly contextualized approach to the history of agriculture is impressively global and longue durée in scope. It is rooted, moreover, in case studies which are worth reading on their own merits irrespective of the argument they serve to underpin. It is in these case studies…that the textbook function of The Social History of Agriculture becomes apparent.
— H-France Review


In this audacious book, Isett and Miller argue that the key to understanding the emergence of the modern world is the epochal transformation of agrarian class structures. They show how their framework can account not only for the ‘Great Divergence’ between East and West, but also the ‘Little Divergence’ between Northwest Europe and the rest of the continent. Written with tremendous clarity and verve by two scholars in complete command of their subject, this is one of the best works of analytical history to have been published in recent years.
— Vivek Chibber, New York University


In an extraordinary feat of interpretation, Christopher Isett and Stephen Miller have produced a theoretically informed history of agriculture, from its origins nine thousand years ago to the present. They have synthesized vast historical literatures on every major phase in the development of farming, from the rise of sedentary production, through the transition to capitalism, to the green revolution and beyond. They have also provided their own, always-illuminating resolutions of the debates over conceptual framework that have defined the field. An invaluable contribution for scholars, students at all levels, and general readers alike, it truly is a tour de force.
— Robert Brenner, University of California–Los Angeles


Explains why humans, after 190,000 years of existing as hunter-gatherers, began to rely on agriculture

Studies the current ecological and economic problems of today’s agribusiness

Offers a humane and healthy vision for feeding the growing world population

Offers a precise definition of capitalism, showing the specific cases in which capitalism emerged in history

Challenges the assumption that agriculture has progressed incrementally, that generations built off of one another’s advances, each seeking wealth through trade

Considers the distinct logics of slave, feudal, peasant, and capitalist agriculture in various periods and places in history

Illustrates the systematic methods developed by New World planters to extract the maximum amount of labor from slaves

Traces the agricultural origins of the US Civil War

Demonstrates the divergent evolutions of feudalism in England and Western Europe

Illustrates the ingenious strategies developed by pre-Columbian communities to farm sufficient food at the different altitudes of the Andes

Illuminates the success of pre-colonial communities of African farmers in escaping land rents, taxes, and other elite impositions

Explains the paradox of exceptionally high crop yields over many centuries in which China did not develop economically

Details the regimes of coerced labor, export crops, and land expropriations in colonial Africa, India, and Taiwan

Compares European and Japanese imperialism

Analyzes the failures of socialist agriculture in the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba

Explores the agricultural revolutions in post-war France and Taiwan

The Social History of Agriculture

From the Origins to the Current Crisis

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • This innovative text provides a compelling narrative world history through the lens of food and farmers. Tracing the history of agriculture from earliest times to the present, Christopher Isett and Stephen Millerargue that people, rather than markets, have been the primary agents of agricultural change. Exploring the actions taken by individuals and groups over time and analyzing their activities in the wider contexts of markets, states, wars, the environment, population increase, and similar factors, the authors emphasize how larger social and political forces inform decisions and lead to different technological outcomes. Both farmers and elites responded in ways that impeded economic development. Farmers, when able to trade with towns, used the revenue to gain more land and security. Elites used commercial opportunities to accumulate military power and slaves. The book explores these tendencies through rich case studies of ancient China; precolonial South America; early-modern France, England, and Japan; New World slavery; colonial Taiwan; socialist Cuba; and many other periods and places. Readers will understand how the promises and problems of contemporary agriculture are not simply technologically derived but are the outcomes of decisions and choices people have made and continue to make.
Details
Details
  • Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
    Pages: 422 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½
    978-1-4422-0966-4 • Hardback • November 2016 • $136.00 • (£105.00)
    978-1-4422-0967-1 • Paperback • November 2016 • $62.00 • (£48.00)
    978-1-4422-0968-8 • eBook • November 2016 • $58.50 • (£45.00)
    Subjects: History / World, History / Europe / General, History / Social History, History / Asia / General, History / Latin America / General, History / Middle East / General, History / Africa / General, History / General, Social Science / Agriculture & Food
    Courses: History; World History; General, History; World History; Survey
Author
Author
  • Christopher Isett is associate professor of history at the University of Minnesota.
    Stephen Miller is associate professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Introduction
    Chapter 1: Settled Agriculture: The Ancient Origins of Community, State, and Empire
    Chapter 2: From Antiquity to the Eve of Agrarian Capitalism: Peasants and Dynastic States
    Chapter 3: Agrarian Capitalism in the Early Modern World: Divergence in Eurasia
    Chapter 4: Malthusian Limits in the Early Modern World: Peasants and Markets
    Chapter 5: The New World: Planters, Slaves, and Sugar
    Chapter 6: American Farming: Agrarian Roots of U.S. Capitalism
    Chapter 7: New Imperialism: Colonial Agriculture in the Age of Capitalism
    Chapter 8: Socialist Agriculture: Collectivization in Three Countries
    Chapter 9: Late Development: State-led Agrarian Change after World War II
    Chapter 10: Corporate Agriculture: Comparing the United States and Brazil
    Conclusion
Reviews
Reviews
  • An ambitious synthesis of twelve thousand years of world agricultural history. Through a social history approach that encompasses the study of political and economic systems, the authors contend that throughout history 'people’s choices of what to grow, the technologies to use, and the labor regime to employ are shaped by their societies.' Such an approach allows for a nuanced discussion of complex agricultural developments that expands this topic beyond an emphasis on market forces. . . . Through a comparative approach that maintains attention to detail and cultural difference, this book succeeds as a comprehensive narrative history of the development of agriculture. . . . Isett and Miller have written a history of world agriculture that successfully addresses key questions for different eras. Readers interested in world agriculture of the past and present will find this work insightful.
    — Agricultural History


    In an extraordinary feat of interpretation, Christopher Isett and Stephen Miller have produced a theoretically informed history of agriculture, from its origins nine thousand years ago to the present. They have synthesized vast historical literatures on every major phase in the development of farming, from the rise of sedentary production, through the transition to capitalism, to the green revolution and beyond. They have also provided their own, always-illuminating resolutions of the debates over conceptual framework that have defined the field. An invaluable contribution for scholars, students at all levels, and general readers alike, it truly is a tour de force.
    — Robert Brenner, University of California–Los Angeles


    Isett and Miller…populate their global survey of agricultural heritage with specific illustrations, widely diverse in time and region, to argue against the notion that growth in population and urban development created a need for additional agricultural commodities, which in turn created opportunities for producers to increase output, consume alternate goods, and focus on production of commodities of highest return. More generally, the authors explain agricultural phenomena less in stark economic terms and more in line with the sociopolitical phenomena and climate they believe more fully influenced agricultural development. Although their scope is primarily Western, Isett and Miller do look at examples in Africa, China, Taiwan, and Latin America. Chapters on socialist agriculture, and on corporate agriculture in Brazil and the United States, provide a good insight into two very influential patterns that developed at different points in the 20th century and beyond. Given this work’s scope and complexity, it is recommended primarily for higher-level students, faculty, and professionals involved with agricultural economics and history.

    Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.

    — Choice Reviews


    The Social Origins of Agriculture has many strengths which will enrich world history courses. This is an expansive narrative, extending from the late Neolithic to the present, and offering a rare overview of the entire sweep of agricultural history. . . . [T]wo of the book's strengths [are] its commitment to develop expansive comparisons across time [and] its emphasis on farmers themselves. . . . Isett and Miller extend their analysis back to the beginning, making for a provocative and useful study. It has only been a decade since the world's rural population fell under 50%. In our classes, narratives focused on urbanization, individualism and industrialization eclipse those focused on rural landscapes, village life, and agrarian production. Reading Isett and Miller can suggest opportunities to rethink that balance.
    — World History Connected


    This highly contextualized approach to the history of agriculture is impressively global and longue durée in scope. It is rooted, moreover, in case studies which are worth reading on their own merits irrespective of the argument they serve to underpin. It is in these case studies…that the textbook function of The Social History of Agriculture becomes apparent.
    — H-France Review


    In this audacious book, Isett and Miller argue that the key to understanding the emergence of the modern world is the epochal transformation of agrarian class structures. They show how their framework can account not only for the ‘Great Divergence’ between East and West, but also the ‘Little Divergence’ between Northwest Europe and the rest of the continent. Written with tremendous clarity and verve by two scholars in complete command of their subject, this is one of the best works of analytical history to have been published in recent years.
    — Vivek Chibber, New York University


    In an extraordinary feat of interpretation, Christopher Isett and Stephen Miller have produced a theoretically informed history of agriculture, from its origins nine thousand years ago to the present. They have synthesized vast historical literatures on every major phase in the development of farming, from the rise of sedentary production, through the transition to capitalism, to the green revolution and beyond. They have also provided their own, always-illuminating resolutions of the debates over conceptual framework that have defined the field. An invaluable contribution for scholars, students at all levels, and general readers alike, it truly is a tour de force.
    — Robert Brenner, University of California–Los Angeles


Features
Features
  • Explains why humans, after 190,000 years of existing as hunter-gatherers, began to rely on agriculture

    Studies the current ecological and economic problems of today’s agribusiness

    Offers a humane and healthy vision for feeding the growing world population

    Offers a precise definition of capitalism, showing the specific cases in which capitalism emerged in history

    Challenges the assumption that agriculture has progressed incrementally, that generations built off of one another’s advances, each seeking wealth through trade

    Considers the distinct logics of slave, feudal, peasant, and capitalist agriculture in various periods and places in history

    Illustrates the systematic methods developed by New World planters to extract the maximum amount of labor from slaves

    Traces the agricultural origins of the US Civil War

    Demonstrates the divergent evolutions of feudalism in England and Western Europe

    Illustrates the ingenious strategies developed by pre-Columbian communities to farm sufficient food at the different altitudes of the Andes

    Illuminates the success of pre-colonial communities of African farmers in escaping land rents, taxes, and other elite impositions

    Explains the paradox of exceptionally high crop yields over many centuries in which China did not develop economically

    Details the regimes of coerced labor, export crops, and land expropriations in colonial Africa, India, and Taiwan

    Compares European and Japanese imperialism

    Analyzes the failures of socialist agriculture in the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba

    Explores the agricultural revolutions in post-war France and Taiwan

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