Histories : Ancient, Modern, Personal and Political / Tom Brass.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brass, Tom, author.

Series:

Social Sciences E-Books Online, Collection 2026.

Studies in Critical Social Sciences ; 354.

Social Sciences E-Books Online, Collection 2026

Studies in Critical Social Sciences ; 354

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Classical Studies.

Social sciences.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (277 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Ancient, Modern, Personal and Political

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2026.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Histories examined here extend from the ancient to the modern, encompassing also the political and the personal. The reason for examining recent trends in the historiography of the Roman empire is because it is there, at the starting point of the historical trajectory on which the whole of Marxist theory is based, that attempts are being made to undermine its foundations. Against this the efficacy of class and much else besides is reasserted via an examination of how and why discourse about work, gender, and property relations features at the rural grassroots, together with a critical analysis of how and why discarding Marxism has contributed to the current empowerment of populism.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables XIII

Introduction

Faithful to Here?

Ignoring History

Oxford Debating Nerds

Frightened Conformity

Ominous Trends

Themes

Part 1: Histories: Ancient, Modern

1 Recovering the Subject(s)? Self and Others on Parade

Introduction: Why Write?

Politics?

Capitalism?

Marxism?

Unknown Unknowns?

Privileging the Image

An Element of Creativity?

Pax Romana?

Conclusion

2 Marxist Mosaic or Non-Marxist Kaleidoscope?

Introduction: Repositioning the Subject

Onwards and Upwards?

Consistency?

Marxism, Methodology?

Production Relations?

Sedulously Aloof?

What Marxism Is or Isn’t

Debt, Coercion as Free Wage-Labour?

New Ways of Thinking?

Who is the Enemy?

3 Is Marx at Home in Ancient Rome, or Is the Eternal City the Locus of an Eternal Capitalism?

Introduction: Deconstructing Rome (in a Day)?

A Huge Container

Decline and Fall?

Sleepy British Positivists

The Imaginary World of Decoration

A Good Measure of Cold Water

Remediable by New Discoveries?

Ancient History Rewritten?

Sins of the (Academic) Ancestors?

Conclusion: Back to Basics

4 Ancient Rome and the Modern West: Death or Resurrection?

Introduction: Woe Is Me

Decline, Development, Modernisation

Core, Periphery, Migration

Open Doors, Disgruntled Corners

Who Is Empowered, and Why?

Crisis and Ruralisation

Class Struggle or Negotiation?

Populism and Its Contradictions

Part 2: Histories: Personal, Political

5 The (Not-So-Hidden) Politics of Populism

A Border Crossed

Rednecks, Policières

Populism, or the Identity That Dares Not Speak Its Name

Perils of Misunderstanding Populism

What Marxism Does …

6 Drink, Work and Class in Rural Peru (Being There, Doing That)

La Convención, Peru

Drinking Costs and Patterns

Drinking Ideology and Politics

Drinking and Gender

Drinking and Work – I

Drinking and Work – II

Drinking and Class

7 On Anthropological Fieldwork (and Other Things)

Introduction: Other Times, Other Places

General Theoretical Sauce

The Feel of Fieldwork

An Unmediated Voice?

Beginnings

Endings

8 Fragments of a Life, or Drawing a Line

Introduction: Till All Our Strivings Cease

Sleep and Forget

Part of the Crowd

A Life Not Led

The Ground Moves

Perhaps It’s Some Political Thing

Strong Opinions, Strongly Held

Appendix I: Correspondence with John Cairncross, 1940s

Appendix II: Cartoons

Bibliography

Author Index

Subject Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-74949-7

9789004749498

OCLC:

1547240309

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004749498 DOI