VIII.1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECONOMIC BASE

GRASPING IT CHANGES ONE'S VIEW OF THE PAST. THEN ONE APPLIES IT TO THE PRESENT. 

They erased it. Of course!

For the difference read these pages:  

• Setting the scene:Tangible factors explain the city's structure.

• Small farms: ferocious repressions and art de vivre: How sales of émigré and Church lands to peasants during the Revolution underlay French culture until the 1960's.

• Why nobles could rarely adjust to capitalism: Please scroll down.

• Nobles, gods and heroes: Nobles adopt mythology to announce their superiority.

• "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder:" Why middle-class Western and traditional African views of corpulence differ.

• "Objective history sticks to the facts:" which facts? Short section

• Have the kings become subversive? Short section  

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