Customer Reviews

Origins of the State and Civilization: The Process of Cultural Evolution

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I will only point out that, when I found this book I decide it to give it a chance, in despite of not finding previous comments on it. I was surprised that no one else had made a comment before to this masterful work, which, in my opinion, is enlightening. Perhaps, because of the author's style, the book is no very engaging, but it is not dry either. In any event I think that the professional historian and the educated layperson alike can savour it. So I add my review, my rate being between 5 (content) and 3 (pleasure, sometimes falling to 2, sometimes raising to 4). I highly recommend it.

Other interesting books dealing with the STATE that I would recommend would be the following: 1) "War in Human Civilization" by Azar Gat (war explained, not just narrated); 2) "How War Began" by Keith F. Otterbein; 3) "Understanding Early Civilizations" by Bruce Trigger (a great comparative review of early civilizations); 4) "History of Government" by S.E. Finer; and 5) Political Thought: 5.1. and 5.2: "The West and Islam. Religion and Political Thought in World History" plus "A World History of Ancient Political Thought" by Antony Black

Additionally, for those looking for a broad framework to understand the past, I would also suggest reading the following works, whose scope is as amazingly global as Elman's: a) Agrarian cultures: "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; b) Economy: "The world economy. A millennial perspective" (2001) plus "The world economy: Historical Statistics" (2003) by Angus Maddison (a combined edition of these two volumes appeared on December 2007); c) Ideas: "Ideas, a History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; and d) Religion: "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Moojan Momen.

I think recent trends in academic state formation theory favor recent work done on Pre-Columbian American proto-states. As it turns out, Elman R. Service was a predictor of future trends in that regard- Origins Of The State And Civilization was written in 1975.

The most important aspect of a book review for this book is nailing down the exact subject and subject area of Origins. In some regards the best comparison is Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, adapted for 20th century anthropology: both books have a sweeping, proto-science flavor to them. On the other hand, Service's theories about the transition from "tribe" to "state" are specifically written to be all encompassing. In fact, one way to look at Origins is just as a simple comparison about each of the "original" civilizations: Mesoamerica, Peru, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus River Valley and China.

Part of the use of Origins is just setting out the framework for comparing these six original civilizations in a non-racist way, taking advantage of post World War II developments of archaeology and a general broadening of interest in "non-western" areas of study. As for the substance of Service's argument, it mostly functions to refute Marxist ideas about class conflict. And a sturdy refutation it is, if there is anyone out there who still cares about the economic roots of Marxist class conflict analysis. For what it's worth, Service argues that conflict is more in terms of allocation/redistribution of community resources. The allocative/distributive function of chiefdom seems to be a key predecessor to true "statehood."