Book of the week: The Story of Work by Jan Lucassen
Lucassen, a Dutch historian, sets out to ‘chronicle the history of human work’
Fittingly, a vast amount of labour has gone into this book, said Christina Patterson in The Guardian. In it, Jan Lucassen, a Dutch historian, sets out to “chronicle the history of human work, from our first strides as Homo sapiens 700,000 years ago to the rise of the robot now”.
He begins his account in the hunter-gatherer period – which accounts for 98% of human history. Although less blissful than is often supposed (stalking mammoths was no picnic), hunter-gatherer societies were more egalitarian and cooperative than any that have existed since.
Around 12,000 years ago, agriculture emerged, and this eventually generated the increased yields that made it possible for some people to start doing other types of work. “The seeds were sown for the stratified societies we live in now.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While a book on this scale could have been “full of vague extrapolations”, Lucassen is a lively writer with an eye for the arresting detail. “The result is an encyclopaedic survey that’s also a whistle-stop tour of human history – and it’s absolutely fascinating.”
As “people learnt to wring more output from the land, they built the basis of modern human existence”, said The Economist. Not only did the first professions emerge, but also notions of private property (whose roots, Lucassen suggests, lay in livestock farming). “From around 7,000 years ago the first great cities arose, in Mesopotamia and then South and East Asia.”
In these more complex societies, new working arrangements appeared, including servitude, self-employment and – crucially – wage labour. The latter, Lucassen suggests, eventually combined with “standardised, low-denomination coinage” to produce the “economic magic” that came with “true markets”.
It must be said that reviewing this book often felt like “work, not play”, said James Marriott in The Times. Amid the “daunting subheadings”, and detailing of arcane academic debates, it was hard to discern an “overarching theme”. Yet if one key idea does emerge, it’s the way that, particularly in the modern era, work has “increasingly monopolised human time and human psychology”.
When Lucassen’s survey arrives at the present, his “central and abiding worry” becomes clear, said Simon Ings in The Daily Telegraph. He fears that with the rise of automation and technological surveillance, slavery – a “depressing constant” of recorded history – will make a strong return. It’s a bleak note on which to end a book that, though exhausting, is enlightening – and “full of colour, surprise and human warmth”.
Yale University Press 544pp £25; The Week Bookshop £19.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Try 6 free issues of The Week Junior
Spark your child's curiosity with The Week Junior - the award-winning current affairs magazine for 8-14s.
By The Week Published
-
Netanyahu's Rafah attack vow snarls truce deal
Speed Read Hours before the truce deal was to be finalized, Netanyahu said Israel will invade Rafah regardless
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - May 1, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - beware of governor, biting debates, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Daniel Wallace's 5 favorite books that should not be forgotten
Feature The author recommends works by Italo Calvino, Evan S. Connell, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 picturesque homes in Arizona
Feature Featuring a glass elevator in Sedona and a grotto waterfall in Paradise Valley
By The Week Staff Published
-
Silversea cruise review: a Central and North American adventure
The Week Recommends An incredible journey featuring cultural exploration, cooking classes, comfort and more
By Yasemen Kaner-White Published
-
Baffin Island: looking for narwhal in Arctic Canada
The Week Recommends An exploration of this island between mainland Canada and Greenland is ideal for the adventurous at heart
By The Week UK Published
-
Knife: Salman Rushdie's 'mesmeric memoir' of brutal attack
The Week Recommends The author's account of ordeal which cost him his eye is both 'scary and heartwarming'
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sarah Langan recommends 6 women-centric horror books
Feature The horror novelist recommends works by Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 spacious homes for car lovers
Feature Featuring a 14-car showroom in Oregon and a Bentley-style apartment in Florida
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 serene homes in Vermont
Features Featuring a four-level Shaker barn in Hartland and a Scandinavian-inspired home in Stowe
By The Week US Published