x.i. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECONOMIC BASE

GRASPING IT CHANGES THE VIEW OF THE PAST, WHICH LEADS TO APPLYING IT TO THE PRESENT

That explains why one finds it at times when the left is strong, and why it disappears when the right is. 

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

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

• Why nobles rarely adjusted to capitalism (please scroll down).

• Nobles, gods and heroes: When explorations and discoveries bring much more dynamic capitalists, nobles identify with mythological and Roman heroes to claim innate superiority.

• All aspects of the Old Regime reinforced the nobles, a concept that applies to societies generally, including our own.

• Have the kings become subversive?  Today they are reduced to anecdotes: What does that favor?  

• "Objective history sticks to the facts:" which facts?  Choose from a huge amount of data makes it inevitably subjective,  but views based on the economy make much more sense than others. 

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

Next: 

Omissions by trusted authorities