| "Igor Diakonoff's The Paths of History is a remarkable survey of world history by a Russian orientalist, using a Marxist interpretation as a point of departure."
Eric Hobsbawm, New Statesman & Society
"...this is an important book...[I] would expect Diakonoff's work to provide the starting-point for lively discussion and research. First of all we need an English translation."
-Times Literary Supplement
This is a broad and ambitious study of the entire history of humanity that takes as its point of departure Marx's theory of social evolution. Professor Diakonoff's theory of world history differs from Marx's in a number of ways. First, he has expanded Marx's five stages of development to eight. Second, he denies that social evolution necessarily implies progress and shows how "each progress is simultaneously a regress," and third, he demonstrates that the transition from one stage to another is not necessarily marked by social conflict and that sometimes this is achieved peacefully and gracefully. As the book moves through these various stages, the reader is drawn into a remarkable and thought-provoking study of the process of the history of the human race that focuses on the wide range of factors (economic, social, military-technological, and socio-pyschological) that have influenced our development from palaeolithic times to the present day.
Tracing an outline of historical processes from palaeolithic times to the present day, The Paths of History provides a unique, concise and readable overview of the entire history of humanity and the laws governing it. This is a broad and ambitious study which takes as its point of departure Marx’s theory of social evolution. Professor Diakonoff, however, has expanded Marx’s five stages of development to eight. In addition, and in contrast to Marx, Professor Diakonoff denies that our transition from one stage to the next is marked by social conflict and revolution and demonstrates that these transitions are sometimes achieved peacefully and gracefully. Professor Diakonoff’s focus is not limited solely to the economic and socio-economic aspects of our development, rather he examines in detail the ethnic, cultural, religious and military-technological factors which have been brought to bear over the centuries. Professor Diakonoff also denies that social evolution necessarily implies progress and shows how ‘each progress is simultaneously a regress’. Finally the book concludes with a prognosis for the future of humanity, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusion about what the future holds. As the book moves through the various chronological stages, the reader is drawn into a remarkable and thought-provoking study of the process of the history of the human race which promises to be the most important work of intellectual world history since Toynbee. |
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