A Radical History of the World
by Neil Faulkner
(Pluto Press, £14.99)

HISTORY, in our frenetic times, is increasingly seen as one damned thing after another. Not so with Neil Faulkner’s epic treatment, based on his Marxist understanding that mankind makes its own history but not under conditions of its own choosing.

[[{"type":"media","fid":"7699","view_mode":"inlineright","instance_fields":"override","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""}]]In adopting a holistic approach, Faulkner provides an alternative to the received historical record, with his book ranging from the earliest appearance of hominins, our human forebears, to the present.

Breathtaking in its scope and exhaustive research it is highly readable as it explores the interplay of natural, geographical, technological and sociological factors that provide the circumstances in which, and through which, mankind can forge its destiny. Yet these have been contested by the political systems under which men and women have laboured.

The first great revolutionary breakthrough around 6,000 BC came about when the shortage of hunted food forced people to turn to agriculture, which itself became a surplus-bearing economy when the iron age allowed the laborious hand-held hoe to be replaced by the plough.

Different economies and political systems arose in different parts of the world. Empires developed in the European continent, with its river highways providing easy communication, while the African continental deserts, forests and mountains inevitably limited commerce and development.

Archaeology suggests no evidence of social inequality, class divisions or nuclear families in early neolithic societies. The bedrock of their later developments into capitalist structures was laid by surplus profits from the increased successes of human ingenuity and labour.

Faulkner examines the emergence of wars and religions, all leading to the exploiters and the exploited — the ruling classes and those who supplied their masters’ wealth and power.

The bourgeois revolutions from the 16th century onwards, brought about through mobilising the masses, failed because of the fear of the forces and expectations that they unleashed which frightened the property-owning class. And, as mercantile capitalism transformed into its industrial counterpart and ultimately financial capitalism, the system atrophied into “the great stagnation.”

The final chapters are definitive in their assessment of where we stand and what must be done if the long journey of human history is to continue.

Faulkner says that his book, a highly commendable addition to the new Left Book Club catalogue, is designed for activists and it's undoubtedly an invaluable guide and work of reference.