Prime Minister and novelist, Benjamin Disraeli, said there are Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor.' Today we ARE aware of the habits, thoughts and feelings of the rich, because historians write about them endlessly. The poor are largely ignored and, as a result, their contributions to our modern world are forgotten. Look at popular surveys asking Who is history's greatest hero?' Churchill, Nelson and Elizabeth I have all topped the polls. But the truth is the real heroes are the people who have done the work, and still do. They were born into poverty and spent a life of foul food, terrible toilets, danger, disease and death - the last was usually premature. And the greatest insult is they are forgotten; buried with no gravestone to mark their passing and no history book to celebrate their efforts. Until now. _The Peasants' Revolting Lives_ looks at the oppressed and disempowered and explores the most astonishing fact of all: they endured. They suffered and survived hardships and deprivations that would have killed most of us today. They persevered when the odds were stacked against them and made sure their families survived too. Look at the lives of the dwellers in the neglected zone and ask ourselves again, who the real heroes are. The answer just might be: Mr and Mrs Peasant.
