What do you think?
Rate this book
The Other Greeks: The Family Farm & the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization
For generations, scholars have focused on the rise of 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 vast majority of the Greek citizenry lived, to find the true source of the cultural wealth of Greek civilization. Victor Hanson shows that the real "Greek revolution" was not merely the rise of a free and democratic urban culture, but rather the historic innovation of the independent family farm.
The farmers, vinegrowers, and herdsmen of ancient Greece are "the other Greeks," who formed the backbone of Hellenic civilization. It was these tough-minded, practical, and fiercely independent agrarians, Hanson contends, who gave Greek culture its distinctive emphasis on private property, constitutional government, contractual agreements, infantry warfare, and individual rights. Hanson's reconstruction of ancient Greek farm life, informed by hands-on knowledge of the subject (he is a fifth-generation California vine- and fruit-grower) is fresh, comprehensive, and absorbing. His detailed chronicle of the rise and tragic fall of the Greek city-state also helps us to grasp the implications of what may be the single most significant trend in American life today—the imminent extinction of the family farm.
The farmers, vinegrowers, and herdsmen of ancient Greece are "the other Greeks," who formed the backbone of Hellenic civilization. It was these tough-minded, practical, and fiercely independent agrarians, Hanson contends, who gave Greek culture its distinctive emphasis on private property, constitutional government, contractual agreements, infantry warfare, and individual rights. Hanson's reconstruction of ancient Greek farm life, informed by hands-on knowledge of the subject (he is a fifth-generation California vine- and fruit-grower) is fresh, comprehensive, and absorbing. His detailed chronicle of the rise and tragic fall of the Greek city-state also helps us to grasp the implications of what may be the single most significant trend in American life today—the imminent extinction of the family farm.
596 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
22 people are currently reading
386 people want to read
About the author
Victor Davis Hanson
82 books1,206 followersVictor Davis Hanson was educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz (BA, Classics, 1975), the American School of Classical Studies (1978-79) and received his Ph.D. in Classics from Stanford University in 1980. He lives and works with his family on their forty-acre tree and vine farm near Selma, California, where he was born in 1953.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 10, 2011
After having read (and quite enjoyed) Hanson's The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, I was fairly disappointed by this one, partially because Donald Kagan (whose The Peloponnesian War is fantastic) says it reshaped the way he thinks about ancient Greece, when really I just found it kind of dull; and partially because at the end of the day, the book really isn't about ancient Greece at all.
Hanson's argument is essentially this: Western Civilization grows out of Classical Greece. Classical Greece, in turn, grows out of the agrarian society of the Greek Dark ages (~1200BC through ~500BC, +/-200 years). Therefore, America is indebted to family farmers and the agrarian lifestyle, both of the ancient Greek variety and of the early 20th century American sort.
I am perfectly willing to grant the first point, Western Civilization does in fact grow out of Classical Greece (so long as nods are given to the contributions of Rome and Christianity). The second point I think is much more problematic. And I offer the following counterpoints to Hanson's claims:
-First, a major claim that Hanson makes (in chapter 2 especially) is for the existence of the independent farmer, living alone on his farm a significant distance from the polis in self-sufficient splendor. He cites archaeological evidence which suggests that such isolated farms existed fairly early in the Greek Dark Ages. Associations of such farmers, who would gather together for mutual military protection, were the origins of the polis. I think in fact one might see the exact opposite. You couldn't really expect people to live off by themselves unless there was a powerful political presence already in existence nearby. For example, in America, one can travel through rural areas of the country in relative peace and security, simply because there exist (and have existed for quite some time) political insitutions which promise some level of justice and security. In regions where such institutions have broken down, or never existed in the first place, such travel is at best dangerous, and at worst unthinkable. No one wants to take a pleasure hike through northern Uganda or Somalia, far less are people lining up to be independent farmers in those areas (in fact, we can see that the opposite is the problem). So, I would suggest that evidence demonstrating the existence of independent farmers in the Dark Ages of Greece is actually evidence for the prior existence of stable society.
-Second, it's surprising how much the Ancient Greek farm must have looked like Victor Davis Hanson's. At least, if his descriptions are to be believed. Given how little textual and archaeological evidence there is from the period, Hanson extrapolates far more than he probably should as a responsible historian, mostly by drawning on his own experiences and the nature of agriculture in Southern California.
-Third, this book is bloody dense. And not in the good "chock full of information" way, more in the "rambling stories about Hanson's childhood that only tangentially make the point" way. This book would have been much more effective had it been a good 200 pages shorter. Which is ironic, given that one of Hanson's claims is that academics should be more accessible to the general public (see the Epilogue).
Those are some of my criticisms. On the other hand, Hanson does make some excellent points that are well worth thinking about.
-First, Americans are far too unaware of agriculture and where their food comes from. I happen to think that Wendell Berry is a better source for thinking as an agrarian, but at least Hanson's moving in the right direction.
-Second, his criticisms of academia and suggestions for reform are also well taken. He points out that the nature of "modern" (i.e. 1995) scholarship is to be increasingly isolated and elitist, which means that it is increasingly isolated from the majority of middle class Americans. What is needed, in order for Classics (and, by extension, all of the Humanities) to stay relevant is that 1. the discipline should be made accessible, "in language, style, and spirit- to all those outside the university" (418); 2. Classical studies should raise questions that are relevant to the modern world; 3. Classical history should base itself on the available texts and verifiable facts, rather than on whatever the current ideology of the day demands; 4. the Classicist is obligated to engage the students, the Classics should be fun, and passion for the subject should be part of the classroom (I certainly knew a fair number of history professors who missed that particular memo). Some of these ideas are worked out in his Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age.
-Third, Hanson begins an exploration of agricultural life in Ancient Greece that had been largely ignored. While I don't necessarily agree with his political conclusions, he at least begins a needed exploration.
Recommended, but only for people with scholarly interest in the time period.
Hanson's argument is essentially this: Western Civilization grows out of Classical Greece. Classical Greece, in turn, grows out of the agrarian society of the Greek Dark ages (~1200BC through ~500BC, +/-200 years). Therefore, America is indebted to family farmers and the agrarian lifestyle, both of the ancient Greek variety and of the early 20th century American sort.
I am perfectly willing to grant the first point, Western Civilization does in fact grow out of Classical Greece (so long as nods are given to the contributions of Rome and Christianity). The second point I think is much more problematic. And I offer the following counterpoints to Hanson's claims:
-First, a major claim that Hanson makes (in chapter 2 especially) is for the existence of the independent farmer, living alone on his farm a significant distance from the polis in self-sufficient splendor. He cites archaeological evidence which suggests that such isolated farms existed fairly early in the Greek Dark Ages. Associations of such farmers, who would gather together for mutual military protection, were the origins of the polis. I think in fact one might see the exact opposite. You couldn't really expect people to live off by themselves unless there was a powerful political presence already in existence nearby. For example, in America, one can travel through rural areas of the country in relative peace and security, simply because there exist (and have existed for quite some time) political insitutions which promise some level of justice and security. In regions where such institutions have broken down, or never existed in the first place, such travel is at best dangerous, and at worst unthinkable. No one wants to take a pleasure hike through northern Uganda or Somalia, far less are people lining up to be independent farmers in those areas (in fact, we can see that the opposite is the problem). So, I would suggest that evidence demonstrating the existence of independent farmers in the Dark Ages of Greece is actually evidence for the prior existence of stable society.
-Second, it's surprising how much the Ancient Greek farm must have looked like Victor Davis Hanson's. At least, if his descriptions are to be believed. Given how little textual and archaeological evidence there is from the period, Hanson extrapolates far more than he probably should as a responsible historian, mostly by drawning on his own experiences and the nature of agriculture in Southern California.
-Third, this book is bloody dense. And not in the good "chock full of information" way, more in the "rambling stories about Hanson's childhood that only tangentially make the point" way. This book would have been much more effective had it been a good 200 pages shorter. Which is ironic, given that one of Hanson's claims is that academics should be more accessible to the general public (see the Epilogue).
Those are some of my criticisms. On the other hand, Hanson does make some excellent points that are well worth thinking about.
-First, Americans are far too unaware of agriculture and where their food comes from. I happen to think that Wendell Berry is a better source for thinking as an agrarian, but at least Hanson's moving in the right direction.
-Second, his criticisms of academia and suggestions for reform are also well taken. He points out that the nature of "modern" (i.e. 1995) scholarship is to be increasingly isolated and elitist, which means that it is increasingly isolated from the majority of middle class Americans. What is needed, in order for Classics (and, by extension, all of the Humanities) to stay relevant is that 1. the discipline should be made accessible, "in language, style, and spirit- to all those outside the university" (418); 2. Classical studies should raise questions that are relevant to the modern world; 3. Classical history should base itself on the available texts and verifiable facts, rather than on whatever the current ideology of the day demands; 4. the Classicist is obligated to engage the students, the Classics should be fun, and passion for the subject should be part of the classroom (I certainly knew a fair number of history professors who missed that particular memo). Some of these ideas are worked out in his Bonfire of the Humanities: Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age.
-Third, Hanson begins an exploration of agricultural life in Ancient Greece that had been largely ignored. While I don't necessarily agree with his political conclusions, he at least begins a needed exploration.
Recommended, but only for people with scholarly interest in the time period.
February 20, 2019
Most popular books on the Ancient Greece focus on the Classical period, only skimming over the Archaic period as the origin of a proto-democratic thought. But hardly ever they offer any explanation as to why it was exactly then and there that this innovative political approach could emerge. Hanson aims to fill that gap and he does that in an inquisitive and readable fashion. He essentially ties the concepts of enfranchisement and broad representation to the way the agrarian society of the Dark Ages and Archaic Greece organised itself. He also convincingly depicts phalanx and its mode of warfare as another consequence and at the same time the guarantor of the said political order.
I highly recommend this book to those seeking the missing links in the Ancient Greece history, but I’d rather use it as a supplementary reading after you’ve got a good grip on the general historical and geopolitical background of the era. Hanson constantly recalls various events, peoples and places offering little to no introduction and assuming you understand their importance.
As to the cons, the book is some 100 pages too long or should I rather say misused. Hanson dedicated the last chapter to discuss the economic conditions of the modern-day US. At same time he didn’t delve deep enough, in my opinion, into the philosophical ramifications of the hoplite/yeomanry revolution. But maybe that’s the price you pay for a book written by a historian AND a professional farmer, a unique combination resulting in a unique perspective.
UPDATE:
Hanson’s theory has been heavily contested by other scholars and now it is accepted only partially. Nevertheless, it’s impact on the general understanding of the Ancient Greece history cannot be diminished. If you wish to learn more about counterarguments check the books and publications by Hans van Wees. For a critical analysis of available theories turn to the collection of lectures edited by Donald Kagan in “Men of Bronze’.
I highly recommend this book to those seeking the missing links in the Ancient Greece history, but I’d rather use it as a supplementary reading after you’ve got a good grip on the general historical and geopolitical background of the era. Hanson constantly recalls various events, peoples and places offering little to no introduction and assuming you understand their importance.
As to the cons, the book is some 100 pages too long or should I rather say misused. Hanson dedicated the last chapter to discuss the economic conditions of the modern-day US. At same time he didn’t delve deep enough, in my opinion, into the philosophical ramifications of the hoplite/yeomanry revolution. But maybe that’s the price you pay for a book written by a historian AND a professional farmer, a unique combination resulting in a unique perspective.
UPDATE:
Hanson’s theory has been heavily contested by other scholars and now it is accepted only partially. Nevertheless, it’s impact on the general understanding of the Ancient Greece history cannot be diminished. If you wish to learn more about counterarguments check the books and publications by Hans van Wees. For a critical analysis of available theories turn to the collection of lectures edited by Donald Kagan in “Men of Bronze’.
October 10, 2018
Had some good moments. Particularly liked the thesis that agriculture led to a dispersion of power, which, had the effect of dismantling the political powers and establishing democracy.
February 23, 2024
Through the reading of this book, I believe that Hanson has a strong and effective historical voice that is deeply familiar with his discussed primary sources, and that if he was to write the book purely in this voice, it would be an incredibly effective and groundbreaking piece of historical analysis. But Hansons very apparent bias for farming and agrarianism due to his own profession on a small family farm seems to have caused the book numerous shortcomings. One example of this is through Hansons attempts to paint the small Greek family farmer in the most respectable light possible, killing his legitimacy in the eyes of the reader. This can be recognized when Hanson discusses the perception and role of slaves to the yeoman. Hanson claims that these slaves were treated well and had a “paternalistic” relationship with their masters, as they often ate with them at their tables, worked alongside them in the fields, and marched together on campaigns. This perception of slaves is one that seems to be idealized by Hanson and painted in a more positive light than the reality. I know this because there are multiple first hand sources, such as the Odyssey, that describe the situation of being a slave as a less than human experience. Hanson even contradicts himself in this part, when he says that slave exploitation was essential and nearly all would attempt to run away during times of chaos. It would seem to make more sense that the slave would stay during these hard times if they were extended respect and had a deep, paternal, connection to their master, like Hanson argues.
Another complication due to Hansons personal bias is that he attributes numerous Ancient Greek agrarian characteristics to his own life, presenting personal analogies as support for his arguments, which ultimately weaken his arguments greatly. An example of this is when Hanson claims that the farmer's solution to agricultural anxiety was through tradition and repetition. The way Hanson supports this argument is through his grandfather's journals, where he states, “What else can explain the notebooks my grandfather kept for half a century?” Through the constant implementation of his own life and the attempt to compare it to people who lived over 2500 years ago, Hanson is depriving his otherwise strong arguments of intellectual and reputable support. Therefore, through these shortcomings in his argument, Hanson is diminishing historical and intellectual readings. But it also seems that any reader who is not reading it in a historical or intellectual way, such as the normal small family farmer he envisioned, would also be discouraged from reading this book due to the close reading of historical primary sources, the uses of historical Greek terms, and even the pure size of the book. So, I don’t think this book necessarily succeeds in either form of reading, and is therefore, not a book I would claim to be effective or would recommend.
Another complication due to Hansons personal bias is that he attributes numerous Ancient Greek agrarian characteristics to his own life, presenting personal analogies as support for his arguments, which ultimately weaken his arguments greatly. An example of this is when Hanson claims that the farmer's solution to agricultural anxiety was through tradition and repetition. The way Hanson supports this argument is through his grandfather's journals, where he states, “What else can explain the notebooks my grandfather kept for half a century?” Through the constant implementation of his own life and the attempt to compare it to people who lived over 2500 years ago, Hanson is depriving his otherwise strong arguments of intellectual and reputable support. Therefore, through these shortcomings in his argument, Hanson is diminishing historical and intellectual readings. But it also seems that any reader who is not reading it in a historical or intellectual way, such as the normal small family farmer he envisioned, would also be discouraged from reading this book due to the close reading of historical primary sources, the uses of historical Greek terms, and even the pure size of the book. So, I don’t think this book necessarily succeeds in either form of reading, and is therefore, not a book I would claim to be effective or would recommend.
June 5, 2021
This book is dull and much longer than it ever should have been. The author goes out of his way to expound ad infinitum on a a thought. Why express a point that could be clearly laid out in two pages when you have six available? And he keeps going back to his experiences as a farmer in present day California. Well I am glad that he has experience with farming, but that doesn’t relate to the subject of farmers and society and civilization in Ancient Greece.
August 19, 2024
Out of date and no good, look elsewhere for better quality work on the ancient Greeks.
TLDR: Rugged individualist farmers built the Greek city-states and Western Civilization. American farmers are just like them and we need to learn their lessons or America will collapse just like the ancient Greek city-states. This book is better viewed as a political statement on America's agricultural situation than a good-faith examination of ancient Greek society.
TLDR: Rugged individualist farmers built the Greek city-states and Western Civilization. American farmers are just like them and we need to learn their lessons or America will collapse just like the ancient Greek city-states. This book is better viewed as a political statement on America's agricultural situation than a good-faith examination of ancient Greek society.
April 1, 2011
Victor Davis Hanson weaves together military, economic, and political history to construct a thesis of enormous explanatory power. The major events of Greek history (the fall of Mycenae, the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars) take on new and bold significance. Classical Greece is for him the perfect expression of Jeffersonian agrarianism, an ideology (and material base) that conditioned their taste for short decisive phalanx warfare, and their oligarchical but semi-egalitarian politics.
As a farmer himself he perhaps lingers too long on the details of farming, and he occasionally indulges in an overly combative tone, but these are minor faults in a book that has opened up so much for me.
His attack on corporate farming in America in the epilogue makes me think that this book was written 20 years too early. Today (after Michael Pollan and others), his agrarian Producerism, although coming from the right rather than the left, would resonate well with contemporary concerns among university students and politically active leftists.
As a farmer himself he perhaps lingers too long on the details of farming, and he occasionally indulges in an overly combative tone, but these are minor faults in a book that has opened up so much for me.
His attack on corporate farming in America in the epilogue makes me think that this book was written 20 years too early. Today (after Michael Pollan and others), his agrarian Producerism, although coming from the right rather than the left, would resonate well with contemporary concerns among university students and politically active leftists.
November 13, 2008
Hanson's theory is that the roots of Western civilization and Western values can be found in the culture of the small farmers of ancient Greece in 600 B.C.E.+/-. It is an idea which I think has a lot of validity, but I found Hanson's writing so dry and often expressed through a rather narrow lens of ultra-conservatism that it was difficult for me to follow it. It was in fact rather boring, even though the topic is of substantial interest to me. Moreover, it is a very long book and, even though there is a lot of important material here, I think it could have been stated in a more succinct form that would have appealed more to the general public. But perhaps Hanson was not writing for the general public but for his fellow scholars. Even for that audience, though, I would say the book was a bit dull.
February 5, 2017
Taking a look at the hidden, formative years and institutions that lead to the rise of the Greek city state VDH adds a solid foundation to the usual flights of praise heaped on the philosophers of Athens. VDH brings out the life of the countryside and its impact. We forget that having the majority live within the urban area is a modern phenomenon. Most Greeks lived in rural areas and is shaped both them and the city state. This book explores that relationship in depth, its early start, the centuries of stability and finally its fall.
Also of interest, although only a small portion near the end, is VDHs comparison of this time period to the book to the end of the 20th century. The roundhouse to the shortcomings of modern academia is fun.
Also of interest, although only a small portion near the end, is VDHs comparison of this time period to the book to the end of the 20th century. The roundhouse to the shortcomings of modern academia is fun.
March 7, 2010
Really interesting analysis by Hanson of the rise of the Greek polis. It is his contention, which is more than adequately supported by both literary evidence from Hesiod and Homer (among others) and recent source-archaeology, that the Greek Polis was an epiphemenon which arose out of (rather than in spite of) Greek agrarianism. This is a particularly readable study which clearly arises out of a long-term interest by Hanson, who is himself a PhD + farmer. Hanson manages to invert a lot of long-held assumptions regarding Greek politics as a politics which were primarily urban and bore little debt to Greek agrarianism.
December 30, 2016
Was reading some of the other (negative) reviews and not sure which book was referenced. Imagine if you have a clay hardpan and need to grow something, anything! If you do not have enough money for hired labor you need a mattock, a cooler day, and determination to shape the land, with added plants and I suppose manure, to hopefully blossom into something approaching the viticulture Mr. Hanson discusses. What makes the great *middle,* then - is it the landless 'vox,' the gentleman owning (plantations, latifundia, massive summer homes on the coasts) copious land, or the *yeoman* teasing existence from poor soil? Hmmmmm - how would society in the West these days define soil?
August 4, 2017
The Other Greeks contains some interesting comparisons of agriculture, its practitioners, and their role in ancient Greece to those of modern America. However, despite the title and hundreds of pages' length, I didn't really learn a whole lot about Greek farmers. The author talks about the need for populism among classicists in his epilogue; I'm no layman, but this book could probably have conveyed the same information to a much broader audience in less than half the number of pages.
January 10, 2008
A very tough book to finish at nearly 600 pages, but a compelling explanation of Western civilization's emergence from an agrarian society as opposed to the polis, as is usually claimed.
February 26, 2008
Pretty much anything by Victor Davis Hanson is worth reading.
August 22, 2011
A good discription on agricultural life in ancient Greece. Examines life in the rural areas.
July 27, 2011
Long but excellent book on the origins of democracy and other ancient Greek gifts to Western Civilization. Very well written and argued, as are all of Hanson's books.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews