David Priestland is a British historian. He teaches modern history at the University of Oxford and is Fellow of St Edmund Hall.[1]
Priestland's research focuses on the history of the Soviet Union and the development of communism and neoliberalism.[2] He is an occasional political and cultural commentator for The Guardian and New Statesman.[3][4] In 2013, Priestland published a book Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A History of the World in Three Castes, which focuses mainly on a power struggle between three castes fighting for domination within society. Priestland's main argument is that humanity has shifted from societies oriented towards a warrior-class, through periods of sage dominance into a modern hegemony of merchants, which has culminated in dominance by businesspeople and billionaire entrepreneurs.[5] In the book, Priestland's voice is mostly critical of global capitalism, which has attracted some notable criticism from other academics.[6][7]
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