Europe and the People Without History is a book by anthropologist Eric Wolf. First published in 1982, it focuses on the expansion of European societies in the Modern Era. It argues that this expansion affected both the societies that Europeans encountered in their expansion and European societies themselves. It asserts that non-European peoples were active participants in the progress of history, rather than static, unchanging cultures. The assumption that these 'others' are from unchanging cultures, and are left out of Eurocentric historical narratives is why they are referred to as 'people without history'. The "People Without History" also refers people whose cultures lack a formally-written histories, hindering their inclusion in 'Western' historical narratives.
This book discusses three of the modes of production:
The issue of modes of production was first addressed by Marx. However Marx was mostly concerned with the Capitalist mode of production.