Scott Alexander reviews 'Against The Grain', which argues that early grain agriculture and state formation were detrimental to human welfare and mainly benefited emerging state powers. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews James Scott's book 'Against The Grain', which argues that the rise of grain agriculture and early states was not a positive development for human welfare. The book contends that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer societies were often more prosperous and healthier, and that grain cultivation mainly benefited emerging state powers by making populations easier to tax and control. Scott discusses how early states were fragile, how 'barbarians' were often former state subjects who escaped, and how warfare was largely about capturing labor. The review concludes by noting that while some of these ideas aren't entirely new, Scott's analysis of grain's role in state-building is particularly insightful. Shorter summary