Robert Dees' The Power of Peasants is an explicit Marxist examination of the role of peasants in German, and wider European history. For that alone it should be celebrated. His central thesis is that the defeat of the German peasantry during 1525 led to the stagnation of the Germany economy, preventing the peasantry from further developing agricultural production. This, in turn, meant that the Germany failed to break free from feudalism until many centuries after other European countries. Its an important argument, that places the role of the producers central to historical development. The problem is that the book, at 1800 pages, obscures these insights with a huge amount of material. Since I have been asked to review this book elsewhere, I will post a link to that article when it is published.
Related ReviewsScribner & Benecke - The German Peasant War 1525: New Viewpoints
Bak (ed) - The German Peasant War of 1525
Blickle - The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants' War from a new perspective
Scribner (ed) - Germany: A New Social & Economic History, 1450-1630, Volume 1
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