Peasants : Makers of the Modern World

''Peasants is not just an extraordinary debut, it is that most precious rarity: an out-and-out masterpiece’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

Four crops, three continents, two billion lives: this is the hidden world that we all depend upon for survival. And it’s under threat.

For centuries, peasants stood at the heart of human society: feeding empires, leading revolutions, building modern states. Industrial modernity forced them into the shadows, replaced in our imagination by machines and megafarms. But the elimination of the peasantry is a myth. Today, peasants make up roughly a quarter of humanity. They underpin the global economy, stabilise food systems and protect fragile ecosystems. Peasants hold up the modern world, yet their labour and voices have been hidden in plain sight – until now.

In this landmark book, Maryam Aslany restores the peasantry to the centre of our global story. She embarks on an epic journey across three continents into some of the most remote places on earth – from India’s sugarcane fields to Cambodia’s rice plains, Peru’s cocaine valleys and Ghana’s cocoa belt – travelling deep into the landscapes where global supply chains begin. Here, she uncovers the lives behind the world’s most vital commodities. She speaks to farmers, smugglers and traffickers. Men driven to extremism or suicide by failing livelihoods, and women forced to bear the burden of agricultural labour. Families on the brink of survival.

As our demand for cheap goods intensifies, our most vital and innovative workforce is being driven towards collapse. The consequences are already starting to show: food insecurity, mass migration, ecological collapse. Far from being a relic of our past, the peasantry is essential to our future.

Blending personal stories with on-the-ground reporting and pioneering new research, Peasants is a far-reaching yet intimate portrait of the world in four crops – sugarcane, rice, cocoa and cocaine – and an urgent reminder that the story of the countryside is the story of us all.