The Sources of Social Power: Volume 1, A History of Power from the Beginning to AD 1760 (Sources of Social Power, 2nd Edition)

Distinguishing Four Sources Of Power In Human Societies - Ideological, Economic, Military And Political - The Sources Of Social Power Traces Their Interrelations Throughout Human History. In This First Volume, Michael Mann Examines Interrelations Between These Elements From Neolithic Times, Through Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, The Classical Mediterranean Age And Medieval Europe, Up To Just Before The Industrial Revolution In England. It Offers Explanations Of The Emergence Of The State And Social Stratification; Of City-states, Militaristic Empires And The Persistent Interaction Between Them; Of The World Salvation Religions; And Of The Particular Dynamism Of Medieval And Early Modern Europe. It Ends By Generalizing About The Nature Of Overall Social Development, The Varying Forms Of Social Cohesion And The Role Of Classes And Class Struggle In History. First Published In 1986, This New Edition Includes A New Preface In Volume 1 By The Author Examining The Impact And Legacy Of The Work-- V. 1. A History Of Power From The Beginning To Ad 1760 -- V. 2. The Rise Of Classes And Nation-states, 1760-1914 -- V. 3. Global Empires And Revolution, 1890-1945 -- V. 4. Globalizations, 1945-2011. Michael Mann. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Frontmatter Preface to the new edition (page vii) Preface (page xxv) 1 Societies as organized power networks (page 1) 2 The end of general social evolution: how prehistoric peoples evaded power (page 34) 3 The emergence of stratification, states, and multi-power-actor civilization in Mesopotamia (page 73) 4 A comparative analysis of the emergence of stratification, states, and multi-power-actor civilizations (page 105) 5 The first empires of domination: the dialectics of compulsory cooperation (page 130) 6 "Indo-Europeans" and iron: expanding, diversified power networks (page 179) 7 Phoenicians and Greeks: decentralized multi-power-actor civilizations (page 190) 8 Revitalized empires of domination: Assyria and Persia (page 231) 9 The Roman territorial empire (page 250) 10 Ideology transcendent: the Christian ecumene (page 301) 11 A comparative excursus into the world religions: Confucianism, Islam, and (especially) Hindu caste (page 341) 12 The European dynamic: I. The intensive phase, A.D. 800-1155 (page 373) 13 The European dynamic: II. The rise of coordinating states, 1155-1477 (page 416) 14 The European dynamic: III. International capitalism and organic national states, 1477-1760 (page 450) 15 European conclusions: explaining European dynamism - capitalism, Christendom, and states (page 500) 16 Patterns of world-historical development in agrarian societies (page 518) Index (page 543) Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military, and political - The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout history. In this first volume, Michael Mann examinese interrelations between these elements from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age, and medieval Europe, up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England. It offers explanations of the emergence of the state and social stratification; of city-states, militaristic empires, and the persistent interaction between them; of the world salvation religions; and of the particular dynamism of medieval and early modern Europe. It ends by generalizing about the nature of overall social development, the varying forms of social cohesion, and the role of classes and class struggle in history. First published in 1986, this new edition of Volume 1 includes a new preface by the author examining the impact and legacy of the work. -- from back cover of Volume 1 "Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military and political - The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout human history. In this first volume, Michael Mann examines interrelations between these elements from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age and medieval Europe, up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England. It offers explanations of the emergence of the state and social stratification; of city-states, militaristic empires and the persistent interaction between them; of the world salvation religions; and of the particular dynamism of medieval and early modern Europe. It ends by generalizing about the nature of overall social development, the varying forms of social cohesion and the role of classes and class struggle in history. First published in 1986, this new edition includes a new preface in volume 1 by the author examining the impact and legacy of the work"-- Provided by publisher Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military and political - The Sources of Social Power traces their interrelations throughout human history. In this first volume, Michael Mann examines interrelations between these elements from neolithic times, through ancient Near Eastern civilizations, the classical Mediterranean age and medieval Europe, up to just before the Industrial Revolution in England. It offers explanations of the emergence of the state and social stratification; of city-states, militaristic empires and the persistent interaction between them; of the world salvation religions; and of the particular dynamism of medieval and early modern Europe. It ends by generalizing about the nature of overall social development, the varying forms of social cohesion and the role of classes and class struggle in history. First published in 1986, this new edition of Volume 1 includes a new preface by the author examining the impact and legacy of the work v. 1. A history of power from the beginning to AD 1760 v. 2. The rise of classes and nation-states, 1760-1914 v. 3. Global empires and crises, 1914-1945 v. 4. Globalizations, 1945-2011.