Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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Audiobook12 hours
Remembering Peasants: A Personal History of a Vanished World
Written by Patrick Joyce
Narrated by Philip Bird
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
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About this audiobook
“I had been waiting for much of my life to read this extraordinary book…there are clues and messages for every fortunate reader who picks it up.” —Annie Proulx
*A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice*
A landmark history of the peasant experience, exploring a now neglected way of life that once encompassed most of humanity, but is rapidly vanishing in our time.
“What the skeleton is to anatomy, the peasant is to history, its essential hidden support.”
For over the past century and a half, and most notably over the last seventy years, the world has become increasingly urban, and the peasant way of life—the dominant way of life for humanity since agriculture began well over 6,000 years ago—is disappearing. In this vital history of peasantry, social historian Patrick Joyce aims to tell the story of this lost world and its people, and how we can commemorate their way of life. In one sense, this is a global history, ambitious in scope, taking us from the urbanization of the early 19th century to the present day. But more specifically, Joyce’s focus is the demise of the European peasantry and of their rites, traditions, and beliefs.
Alongside this he brings in stories of individuals as well as places, including his own family, and looks at how peasants and their ways of life have been memorialized in photographs, literature, and in museums. Joyce explores a people whose voice is vastly underrepresented, and is usually mediated through others, in human history—and now peasants are vanishing in one of the greatest historical transformations of our time.
Written with the skill and authority of a great historian, Remembering Peasants is a “first-class work” (Kirkus Reviews), a richly complex and passionate history written with exquisite care. It is also deeply resonant, as Joyce shines a light on people whose knowledge of the land is being irretrievably lost during our critical time of climate crisis and the rise of industrial agriculture. Enlightening, timely, and vitally important, this book commemorates an extraordinary culture whose impact on history—and the future—remains profoundly relevant.
*A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice*
A landmark history of the peasant experience, exploring a now neglected way of life that once encompassed most of humanity, but is rapidly vanishing in our time.
“What the skeleton is to anatomy, the peasant is to history, its essential hidden support.”
For over the past century and a half, and most notably over the last seventy years, the world has become increasingly urban, and the peasant way of life—the dominant way of life for humanity since agriculture began well over 6,000 years ago—is disappearing. In this vital history of peasantry, social historian Patrick Joyce aims to tell the story of this lost world and its people, and how we can commemorate their way of life. In one sense, this is a global history, ambitious in scope, taking us from the urbanization of the early 19th century to the present day. But more specifically, Joyce’s focus is the demise of the European peasantry and of their rites, traditions, and beliefs.
Alongside this he brings in stories of individuals as well as places, including his own family, and looks at how peasants and their ways of life have been memorialized in photographs, literature, and in museums. Joyce explores a people whose voice is vastly underrepresented, and is usually mediated through others, in human history—and now peasants are vanishing in one of the greatest historical transformations of our time.
Written with the skill and authority of a great historian, Remembering Peasants is a “first-class work” (Kirkus Reviews), a richly complex and passionate history written with exquisite care. It is also deeply resonant, as Joyce shines a light on people whose knowledge of the land is being irretrievably lost during our critical time of climate crisis and the rise of industrial agriculture. Enlightening, timely, and vitally important, this book commemorates an extraordinary culture whose impact on history—and the future—remains profoundly relevant.
Editor's Note
Honoring, not romanticizing…
Historically, peasants (people who worked and lived off the land) made up most of the human population. Today, urbanization and industrial farming means peasantry is nearly nonexistent. Joyce’s book is both a cultural history of peasants and a tribute to their way of life — honoring it, rather than romanticizing it. It’s also a call to remember our past and to reflect on our current disconnect from the Earth.
Author
Patrick Joyce
Patrick Joyce is Emeritus Professor of History at University of Manchester. He is a leading British social historian and has long been a radical and influential voice in debates on the politics and future of social and cultural history. Joyce has written and edited numerous books of social and political history, including The Rule of Freedom, Visions of the People, and The State of Freedom. He is also the author of the memoir Going to My Father’s House, a meditation on the complex questions of immigration, home, and nation. The son of Irish immigrants, Joyce was raised in London and resides beside the Peak District in England.
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