"there is no town, no townlet without its villages, its scrap of rural life attached: no town that does not impose upon its hinterland the amenities of its market, the use of its shops, its wights and measures, its moneylenders, its lawyers...it has to dominate an empire however tiny, to exist." fernand braudel. "the structures of everyday life: civilization and capitalism 15th-18th century, volume 1._________________________well...fernand is an historian and like all historians he is biased...the honest ones share their biases upfront and i have to admit fernand puts his in the title...credit where it's due...and he highlights the exploitative nature of capitalism in that quote in masterful fashion...unwittingly perhaps...he is a booster of capitalism form page one and that howler was probably written in all admiration...his contention that "towns are like electrical transformers" holds water too...because they do not produce their own energy...they get it from outside...no town is self-supporting...that's why it has to "dominate" that "scrap of rural life"...and it does so by setting up an extractive system to take as much as possible with as little return as it can give...summed up nicely in the list of things the town must "impose" on the "hinterland" to survive...like "the amenities of its market, the use of its shops, its weights and measures, its moneylenders, its lawyers..." ( "take back everything you can" william s burroughs. deposition: testimony concerning a sickness. )his honesty in exposing the exploitative nature of capital is, i suspect, accidental...he is too innocent for the history business...an ardent lover exposed as a fool...
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