Peasant and Empire in Christian North Africa - (Transformation of the Classical Heritage) by Leslie Dossey (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This remarkable history foregrounds the most marginal sector of the Roman population, the provincial peasantry, to paint a fascinating new picture of peasant society. Making use of detailed archaeological and textual evidence, Leslie Dossey examines the peasantry in relation to the upper classes in Christian North Africa, tracing that region's social and cultural history from the Punic times to the eve of the Islamic conquest. She demonstrates that during the period when Christianity was spreading to both city and countryside in North Africa, a convergence of economic interests narrowed the gap between the rustici and the urbani, creating a consumer revolution of sorts among the peasants. This book's postcolonial perspective points to the empowerment of the North African peasants and gives voice to lower social classes across the Roman world.

Review Quotes

"An important contribution to a long-running debate."--Matthew Hobson "Early Medieval Europe" (5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM)

"A groundbreaking work. . . . Dossey has made a major contribution to the study of this important facet."--Jesper Carlsen, University of Southern Denmark "The Historian" (1/31/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"Fascinating. . . . Leslie Dossey has succeeded in producing an important study of North African peasants in Late Antiquity. . . . A valuable contribution."--Eric Fournier, West Chester University of Pennsylvania "Jrnl Of World History" (9/1/2012 12:00:00 AM)

"Powerful. . . . [Dossey] fills a major lacuna in understanding. . . . A penetrating account of archaeological and source analysis."--M. A. Gaumer "Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses" (3/18/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"This fine book breaks new ground in . . . its bold interpretation of . . . the development of civil and religious communities in the African countryside."--J. Patout Burns "Church History" (3/1/2012 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Leslie Dossey is Associate Professor of History at Loyola University of Chicago.