What's it about?

James C. Scott's "Against the Grain" uses a wide range of historical and archaeological research to challenge the traditional narrative of state formation as a straightforward progression from settled agriculture. The book argues that early sedentary agriculture, particularly focused on cereal grains, created conditions of drudgery, disease, and ecological vulnerability. Scott posits that the earliest states arose in specific ecological zones where these grains could be easily taxed and that their power was often fragile and contested by non-state "barbarian" societies, who in some ways experienced a "golden age" during this period by exploiting and evading state control. The text further explores how states relied on practices like forced labor and writing to maintain control and extract resources, while also examining the frequent "collapses" of these early polities and the perspectives of those living outside state structures.