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innashtakser's review
5.0
A great book dealing with the question of how societies reach a crisis and deal with it using examples of the passage from antiquity to both West European and East European feudalism. Anderson analyzed the place of unfree labor within the ancient world pointing out how Athenian freedom was dependent on its imperialist politics and Spartan freedom on slavery - both creating resentments and instability creating an opening for Hellenist states and then for Rome. Then he analyzes the fall of Rome as a result of the actual end of Roman inclusive policies. In fact he says that the elite used its political power to create huge estate at the expense of the poor and since the poor were also soldiers these developed loyalty to particular generals ready to take care of their interests rather than to a state (something rather similar to what eventually destroyed Byzantium). A combination of resulting instability and the continuously raising taxes (among other things, in order to support the apparatus of the Christian Church) created an opening for Germanic tribes which conquered Rome. While these tribes initially did not have large-scale unfree labor, their political leadership quickly perceived its advantages. With time large estates became the norm. Unlike in Rome though (and unlike in Byzantium), the new states did not possess a highly developed bureaucracy and required a different way to run the state. The way eventually adopted was feudalism - a pyramidal structure in which everybody was dependent on somebody all the way up to the king. The church, which at that time was the only body attempting to retain some of the culture of the classical world, was part of this in the sense that it employed unfree labor and owned land. The unusual component of Wstern feudal societies were the cities, where there was an assumption of social equality. The cities though were extremely important for encouraging trade and technological innovation. Basically Anderson claims that feudalism was a mix of Roman and Germanic notions on how a society should look like, which could work in a framework where the level of culture was much lower than in Rome. Anderson also says that the dynamism of Feudal societies, especially the more urbanized ones, created constant social tensions and, in many places, especially after the Black Death, the initially crushed peasant rebellions succeeded in freeing the peasantry to a large extent.
In the East unfree labor was introduced when it was disappearing in the West, largely due to scarcity of people. There the states in question chose to keep their societies almost strictly agricultural and not allow the establishment of free cities, like in the West. That solved the immediate labor problem but ended up creating a static economy, which made these countries fall behind.
In the East unfree labor was introduced when it was disappearing in the West, largely due to scarcity of people. There the states in question chose to keep their societies almost strictly agricultural and not allow the establishment of free cities, like in the West. That solved the immediate labor problem but ended up creating a static economy, which made these countries fall behind.
jjupille's review against another edition
5.0
I can't rate this - who am I to judge?
I learned a lot about the period, lots of stuff that I think is important in the grand scheme. I am really glad I read this. Now, onto [b:Lineages of the Absolutist State|14612987|Lineages of the Absolutist State|Perry Anderson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1374002230s/14612987.jpg|818304].
I learned a lot about the period, lots of stuff that I think is important in the grand scheme. I am really glad I read this. Now, onto [b:Lineages of the Absolutist State|14612987|Lineages of the Absolutist State|Perry Anderson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1374002230s/14612987.jpg|818304].
whatyereadin's review
5.0
What a read. Dense for sure, with parts that definitely went over my head but fascinating stuff. The Anderson brothers never fail to disappoint and this Marxist history of social change from the titular "Antiquity to Feudalism" certainly lives up to its lofty ambition. Packed full of well cited information this is a piece of work that will undoubtedly lend itself to returns and rereads in the future.
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