Trabalho, Sexo e Poder

by Willie Thompson

Um relato empolgante das forças que moldam a história da humanidade, da Idade da Pedra aos nossos dias. Que forças desencadeiam as ações da espécie humana? Autores tão diversos como Eric Hobsbawm e Jared Diamond procuraram já uma resposta a esta pergunta. Nesta obra, o historiador Willie Thompson apresenta-nos uma ambiciosa narrativa pessoal da história da humanidade, identificando os fatores cruciais que moldaram a experiência humana desde as comunidades de caçadores-recoletores paleolíticos até à civilização automatizada do nosso século. Thompson conduz o leitor numa viagem notável de identificação dos temas principais que determinaram a forma como os seres humanos interagiram com o seu ambiente ao longo dos tempos.

Genres: History

472 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2015

About the author

Willie Thompson was until his retirement Professor of Contemporary History at Glasgow Caledonian University. His books, published by Pluto Press, include The Good Old Cause: British Communism 1920-1991 (1992), What Happened to History? (2000) and Ideologies in the Age of Extremes: Liberalism, Conservatism, Communism, Fascism 1914-91 (2011).

Reviews

[Pinko Palest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started very promisingly, but the later chapters seem to have been a bit of a chore for the author. On the plus side, it is an excellent review of some of the recent work on history. On the minus, though, has a morbidly pessimistic view of the history of humanity, and is just a nudge away from blanket condemnation of all past human experience. So, for example, while there is a lot on language, there is nothing at all on language as dialogue. There is almost nothing on laughter, humour, games, partying and generally on all human activities that make life worthwhile. Such an approach is not inimical to a marxist reading (witness Bakthin), but is sadly all too often ignored by many marxist scholars

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A generally very readable overview covering the entire span of prehistory and history from a materialist perspective. The title obscures the main thrust somewhat - really this is Power, (extracting) Work, and just a little bit of Sex, and we shouldn't be surprised that it's not particularly cheerful about the lived experience of most of humanity through history. It ends, though, with a call to action, and the suggestion that we cannot separate an effective response to the current environmental crisis from continuing "the emancipatory effort of the 19th and 20th centuries". Which right now sounds rather like a Green Industrial Revolution.

[Dennis Drevell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical deep dive on the forces that have shaped our society, interesting but long and overly academic

[Syrena · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was on the reading list I had for Intro in World History. I found it to be dry and for a lack of a better word, boring. The book almost comes off as he says what he wants to talk about in the first 3rd of the book. After your left with him repeating and dragging the rest out. I would of like some more of his insight too.