Peasants: Makers of the Modern World [9780593535493]

Overview

Four crops, three continents, two billion lives: This is the world of the global peasantry, both historic and present, upon which civilization depends—and it’s under threat.

"An out-and-out masterpiece." —William Dalrymple, author of The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire

For centuries, peasants stood at the heart of human society: feeding empires, leading revolutions, building modern states. Industrial modernity forced them into the shadows, replaced by machines and urbanization... or so the story goes. But the elimination of the peasantry is a myth.

Today, peasants make up roughly a quarter of humanity, most of them in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where small family farms remain the backbone of society. They underpin the global economy, stabilize food systems, and protect fragile ecosystems. Peasants hold up the modern world, yet their labor and voices have been hidden in plain sight—until now.

In this landmark book, Maryam Aslany, a professor and researcher of economic sociology, restores the peasantry to the center of our global story, showing that the workers of the world are not gone, but forgotten and exploited for political power and financial gain. She embarks on an epic journey to some of the most remote places on earth—from India’s sugarcane fields to Cambodia’s rice plains, from Peru’s cocaine valleys to Ghana’s cocoa belt—traveling deep into the landscapes from which global supply chains spring. Here, she uncovers the lives behind the world’s most vital products. She speaks to farmers, smugglers, and traffickers. She meets men driven to extremism or suicide by failing livelihoods, and women forced to bear the burden of agricultural labor and familial survival.

As the global demand for cheap goods intensifies, the world's most vital and innovative demographic is being forced into ever more destitute conditions. And the consequences of the peasant class's exploitation and suffering are already starting to show: food insecurity, mass migration, sectarian violence, ecological collapse. On our current path, the peasantry's demise coincides with humanity's. Aslany shows that far from being a relic of our past, the peasantry is essential to our future. 

Blending personal stories with on-the-ground reporting and pioneering new research, Peasants is a far-reaching yet intimate portrait of the world in four crops—sugarcane, rice, cocoa, and cocaine—and an urgent reminder that the story of the countryside is the story of us all.

The book, Peasants: Makers of the Modern World [Bulk, Wholesale, Quantity] ISBN#9780593535493 in Hardcover by Maryam Aslany may be ordered in bulk quantities. Minimum starts at 25 copies. Availability based on publisher status and quantity being ordered.