The other Greeks : the family farm and the agrarian roots of western civilization / Victor Davis Hanson ; with a new preface and bibliographic essay.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"For generations, scholars have focused on the Greek city-state and its brilliant cosmopolitan culture as the ultimate source of the Western tradition in literature, philosophy, and politics. This passionate book leads us outside the city walls to the countryside, where the majority of the Greek citizenry lived, to find the true source of the cultural wealth of Greek civilization. Victor Hanson shows that the "Greek revolution" was not the rise of a free and democratic urban culture, but rather the historic innovation of the independent family farm."--Jacket.

Introduction: agrarianism, ancient and modern: the origin of western values and the price of their decline -- pt. 1. The rise of small farmers in ancient Greece -- The liberation of agriculture -- Laertes' farm: the rise of intensive Greek agriculture -- Hesiod's works and days: the privilege of the struggle -- The ways of farmers -- pt. 2. The preservation of agrarianism -- Before democracy: agricultural egalitarianism and the ideology behind Greek constitutional government -- The ways of fighters -- The economy of agrarian warfare -- pt. 3. To lose a culture -- Hoplites as dinosaurs -- The erosion of the agrarian polis -- Epilogue: world beneath our feet -- App. Farming words.

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