Remembering Peasants: A Personal History of a Vanished World

In one of the greatest transformations of our time, the eclipse of the rural world by the urban, Patrick Joyce's new history of peasantry explores a rich and complex culture that spans Europe from the plains of Poland to the farmsteads and villages of Italy and Ireland. It weaves remarkable individual stories and looks at how peasant life has been remembered and misremembered in contemporary culture, reminding us that we are all the children of peasants and must respect the experience of our ancestors.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

A dozen pages in, I realized that I had been eagerly waiting for much of my life to delve into the extraordinary realm of Annie Proulx's writing. As I immersed myself further into the narrative, a profound realization struck me: a way of life that once embraced the majority of humanity was gradually fading away, as a remarkable transformation unfolded before our eyes—the eclipse of the rural world by the urban. In this captivating new history of peasantry, Patrick Joyce takes us on a journey to explore this lost world and the people who inhabited it. Contrary to the usual demeaning stereotypes, we uncover a rich and intricate culture that spans across Europe, from the vast plains of Poland to the farmsteads and villages of Italy and Ireland, traversing the nineteenth century to the present day. Joyce weaves remarkable individual stories, including those of his own Irish family, into this passionate narrative, while also examining how peasant life has been remembered and misremembered in contemporary culture.

This is a people whose voice has been vastly underrepresented in human history. Yet, for Joyce, we are all the children of peasants, who must hold in reverence the experiences of our ancestors. This becomes particularly pressing in the face of the climate crisis and the rise of industrial agriculture, as our knowledge of the land is gradually eroding. Enlightening, timely, and vital, this book serves as a commemorative tribute to an extraordinary culture whose impact on our history and our future remains profoundly relevant.

Weight: 616g
Dimension: 240 x 160 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780241543023