The State and the Tributary Mode of Production - Tapa dura

"A powerful new challenge to recent major works of historical sociology by Michael Mann and W.G. Runciman, which aims to reinstate Marxist theory as the basis for a productive, specifically historical, synthesis."--Chris Wickham

In this critique of both traditional and Marxist notions of feudalism and of the pre-capitalist state, John Haldon considers the configuration of state and social relations in medieval Europe and Mughal India, as well as in Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire. While acknowledging the range of ideological and cultural variation within these different examples, Haldon denies the thesis that there are fundamentally contrasting social relations. Haldon's knowledge of Byzantine and Ottoman sources enables him to evaluate the surveys of such authors as Michael Mann and Perry Anderson.