Off the Shelf: The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World
Readers recommend an old or forgotten text that is worth revisiting. This month Phil Webster praises a hefty work of Marxist history.
It is almost 40 years since this excellent piece of Marxist history was first published. It is a wonderful example of how the Marxist method can be applied to a detailed study of a period of history: in this case ancient Greece and Rome.
In the first half of the book, Ste Croix explains the class structure in the ancient world of Greece and Rome, showing that class is the key concept for understanding it (and the medieval world), as well as modern capitalism.