Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the peasant in each of us -- New frontiers: from the first peasants to the first agrarian states -- Extending frontiers: agrarian empires and their peasantries -- Interconnecting frontiers: imperial growth, commercial expansion and the -- peasantization of the world -- Intensifying frontiers: the territorialization of peasantries and the final enclosure -- Globalizing frontiers: the reform of peasantries in a neo-liberal world -- The end of frontiers: the past and the future of peasants.

"Peasants in World History analyzes the multiple transformations of peasant life through history by focusing on three primary areas: the organization of peasant societies, their integration within wider societal structures, and the changing connections between local, regional, and global processes. Peasants have been a vital component in human history over the last 10,000 years, with nearly one-third of the world's population still living a similar lifestyle today. Their role as rural producers of ever-new surpluses instigated complex and often-opposing processes of social and spatial change throughout the world. Eric Vanhaute frames this social change in a story of evolving peasant frontiers. These frontiers provide a global comparative-historical lens to look at the social, economic, and ecological changes within village-systems, agrarian empires, and global capitalism. Bringing the story of the peasantry up through the modern period and looking to the future, the author offers a succinct overview with students in mind. This book is recommended reading to anyone interested in the history and future of peasantries and is a valuable addition to undergraduate and graduate courses in World History, Global Economic History, and Rural Sociology"--