The Story of Work

A New History of Humankind

By: Jan Lucassen

Narrated by: Tom Parks

The first truly global history of work, an upbeat assessment from the age of the hunter-gatherer to the present day

We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering over 700,000 years ago to the present era of zoom meetings, humans have always worked to make the world around them serve their needs.

Jan Lucassen provides an inclusive history of humanity's busy labor throughout the ages. Spanning China, India, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Lucassen looks at the ways in which humanity organizes work: in the household, the tribe, the city, and the state. He examines how labor is split between men, women, and children; the watershed moment of the invention of money; the collective action of workers; and at the impact of migration, slavery, and the idea of leisure.

From peasant farmers in the first agrarian societies to the precarious existence of today's gig workers, this surprising account of both cooperation and subordination at work throws essential light on the opportunities we face today.

©2021 Jan Lucassen (P)2021 Tantor

great history, horrible analysis

The history is very interesting and fairly detailed. The analysis at the end of the book is a bit wild and can be skipped. Throughout the book he notes multiple times how the more control a government or similar authority had in planning the worse the workers did in the long term - while not stated explicitly it is very obvious. When workers weren't getting paid enough or receiving great enough benefits, they rebelled. Fascinatingly, entrepreneurship really started from the second food production was great enough to support non worker individuals (not always for beneficial purposes).

The end of the book devolves into the author just regurgitating and citing Piquity (spelling?) who is very at odds with the detail of the book. If the end were supported by his own work rather than standard academia talking points, it would have been much more interesting.

enlightening

must read in our times. a masterful and comprehensive review of work arrangements and how our current conflicts are just the latest installment

Pronunciation

The reader's pronunciation of most non-English words and some English ones (e.g. pastoral/pastoralists) is grating.

Amazing historical scope and detail, occasionally aimless

The book is an impressive achievement. It certainly fulfills its promise of providing a full historical overview of human work. The author is adept at finding evocative stories that highlight the themes and historical moments under examination. This comes at the cost of occasionally losing bigger-picture narrative momentum. Perhaps this is a result of audio rather than paper consumption. I think I’ll buy the real thing now that I’ve listened so I can return to some areas where I lost focus.