Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Kindle
$7.99

Available instantly

Paperback
$19.95

$19.95

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Monday, May 13 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, May 8. Order within 23 hrs 28 mins

Select delivery location

In Stock

$$19.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Details

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$18.79

Good condition; good condition,fast ship Good condition; good condition,fast ship See less

FREE delivery May 10 - 17. Details

Or fastest delivery May 8 - 13. Details

Select delivery location

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$19.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Ships from and sold by FiFi Online.

Other sellers on Amazon

New & Used (22) from $17.95 FREE Shipping on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.

Follow the author

Ellen Meiksins Wood

Follow

Peasant-Citizen and Slave: The Foundations of Athenian Democracy Paperback – July 17, 1989

by Ellen Meiksins Meiksins Wood (Author)

4.1 4 ratings

Part of: Verso World History (9 books)

See all formats and editions

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$19.95","priceAmount":19.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"19","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"IuvgmSufnpWOkn50Tpz%2Bnu4Bq8pDI9Ce778C04%2FvZCIGtq66L%2FenDHjer1UlhVZd8QzIfx%2BBOD0n9UqTchOAPUCe4tlMO9JnqsKb8466kzyu2s1zpB971Tocgi12sCES1CK1btQtPN4%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$18.79","priceAmount":18.79,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"18","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"79","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"IuvgmSufnpWOkn50Tpz%2Bnu4Bq8pDI9CegNYqP%2FRoMb5e85tYAWc2Wi9wa2dWk8WOjivAf5IOptl0yl1dk50Mjj5aB6zWxbj8krSWjP82W5%2FPhTeEuZ%2FJNZXZsga0tZIrP8jG3COj5CRvZcKdESfCpQw4JP3hOmYhBOlz2PDLECMrfh7k7Z3eivcbORaQ8Pfs","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The controversial thesis at the center of this study is that, despite the importance of slavery in Athenian society, the most distinctive characteristic of Athenian democracy was the unprecedented prominence it gave to free labor. Wood argues that the emergence of the peasant as citizen, juridically and politically independent, accounts for much that is remarkable in Athenian political institutions and culture.

From a survey of historical writings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the focus of which distorted later debates, Wood goes on to take issue with recent arguments, such as those of G.E.M. de Ste Croix, about the importance of slavery in agricultural production. The social, political and cultural influence of the peasant-citizen is explored in a way which questions some of the most cherished conventions of Marxist and non-Marxist historiography. This book will be of great interest to ancient historians, classicists, anthropologists and political theorists, as well as to a wider reading public.

Frequently bought together

Peasant-Citizen and Slave: The Foundations of Athenian Democracy

$19.95

Get it as soon as Monday, May 13

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism

$16.74

Get it as soon as Sunday, May 12

Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

$15.93

Get it as soon as Sunday, May 12

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

Ellen Meiksins Wood
261
Paperback
1 offer from $15.93
Ellen Meiksins Wood
28
Paperback
28 offers from $10.93

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Learned, elegantly argued and, I think, important ... Ellen Wood is inviting us, indeed I would say obliging us, to reconsider our picture of Athens.”
—The Independent

“There is much of unquestionable value in this reading of Athenian democracy, not least the honesty with which the limitations of the available evidence are exposed and confronted ... [Wood] has indisputably set the agenda anew.”
—Times Literary Supplement

“A compelling read ... always surprising and refreshing.”
—Robin Osborne, Magdalen College, Oxford

About the Author

Ellen Meiksins Wood, for many years Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto, is the author of many books, including Democracy Against Capitalism and, with Verso, The Pristine Culture of Capitalism, The Origin of Capitalism, Peasant-Citizen and Slave, Citizens to Lords, Empire of Capital and Liberty and Property.