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Title details for Remembering Peasants by Patrick Joyce - Available

Remembering Peasants

A Personal History of a Vanished World

by Patrick Joyce
Philip Bird
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
"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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 20, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797180328
      • File size: 365036 KB
      • Duration: 12:40:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 11, 2023
      Historian Joyce (The Rule of Freedom) draws on his family’s background in Ireland to provide an insightful and evocative homage to the peasant way of life, which has been the dominant human experience for the past several millennia but is rapidly vanishing as agrarian lifestyles around the world give way to urbanization. Focusing mainly on Ireland, Italy, and Poland, Joyce depicts peasant culture from the perspective of those who lived it, meticulously detailing the houses in which peasants resided, their family norms, their work and tools, and their reverence for the land. He paints a sympathetic view of traditional societies, but also emphasizes the degree to which peasant life was one of suffering and pain; the daily work injured and wore down bodies, while fears of famine and the possibility of being conscripted to war were ever present. In poetic prose (“this way of understanding the Earth and the heavens is part of a past we have now lost, lost in less than a single lifetime, lost with barely a sign of its losing”), Joyce hauntingly conveys his perspective that the ramifications of the shift away from an agricultural way of life have been and will continue to be significant (“if we are cut off from the past, we are also cut off from ourselves”). Readers will be enthralled.

    • Library Journal

      May 31, 2024

      Drawing upon his own family background, historian Joyce (Going to My Father's House) offers a sensitive exploration of the centuries-old peasant way of life, a lifestyle that has been largely eradicated owing to the advent of urbanization. Philip Bird narrates this sweeping account that, while focused on European peasantry, has a global scope. With care and understanding, Bird tells the stories of this mostly forgotten class of people who were often put down, used, and ignored, even though they were the backbone of society. Joyce's impressive research into peasants' customs, religions, and lore, from descriptions of daily work and family structures to experiences during war, famine, and disease, is presented with understanding and respect. The print book includes many photos, which audio listeners can access through an attached PDF. Access to the PDF is not essential, but it is helpful, as Joyce references details specific to the photos. VERDICT A well-researched, sweeping account of a little-remembered but critically important group of people. Share with listeners interested in social history, particularly the impact of urbanization and industrialization on agrarian lifestyles.--Elyssa Everling

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Patrick Joyce writes of the rapidly disappearing, or already vanished, European peasantry--its characteristics and culture--in this thoughtful, quietly analytic, elegiac audiobook. Narrator Philip Bird mirrors the production's best qualities, its sensitivity and intelligence, and lets its essential sadness emerge unobtrusively. His deft narration softens the frustrations of a text that can lose clarity by wandering among times and cultures. Especially in the reflective latter sections, his performance is so effortlessly attuned to the book's meaning, so subtly expressive, that it's easy to forget he's not the author. The effect is both engaging and moving. Note: Frequent references to photos in a pdf may not be helpful to listeners on the go. W.M. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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