3 Review(s)

For the past several years I have been associated with teaching a course on Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Ancient and Medieval World at the undergraduate level in the University of Delhi . The course is meant to acquaint students with the historical evolution of human societies , from the origins of humankind to the rise of feudalism in Burope Even though this is only supposed to be a survey course , it has a wide range of themes . The literature dealing with these themes is vast and my students and I have often felt the need for a concise book which would provide the basic information on the topics in the course . The present book is intended to be a general introduction to the subject . The main focus of the book is on early social formations of West Asia , Egypt , Greece and Rome .I have broadly kept in mind the structure of the University of Delhi course ( including the proposed changes in the draft of the revised course ) , but have included some material which , it is hoped , will be found useful by others as well . My work is based entirely on secondary sources and lays no claim to original research . I should like to thank Smita Sahgal , without whose support and encouragement this book would never have been written I must acknowledge my debt to P. S. Dwivedi who first initiated me into the discipline as my teacher in Si Stephen's College . His guidance , when I subsequently began teaching the course on social formations , was a source of enrichment for me . I am grateful to Virginius Xaxa for providing me with information I needed .