Few historical issues have occasioned such discussion since at least the time of Marx as the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western Europe. The Brenner Debate, which reprints from Past and Present various article in 1976, is a scholarly presentation of a variety of points of view, covering a very wide range in time, place and type of approach. Weighty theoretical responses to Brenner's first formulation followed from the late Sir Michael Postan, John Hatcher, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and Guy Bois; more particular contributions came from Patricia Croot, David Parker, Arnost Klima and Heide Wunder on England, France, Bohemia and Germany; and reflective pieces from R. H. Hilton and the late J. P. Cooper. Completing the volume, and giving it an overall coherence, are Brenner's own comprehensive response to those who had taken part in the debate, and also R. H. Hilton's introduction that aims to bring together the major themes in the collection of essays. The debate has already aroused widespread interest among historians and scholars in allied fields as well as among ordinary readers, and may reasonably be regarded as one of the most important historical debates of prevailing years.

本书致力于揭示中国农民自杀现象在不同社会类型、不同区域以及不同时间段中的差异性分布及其机理，并试图走出经典理论中结构与行动在自杀研究领域毒瘤般的分裂性困境。书中主要有如下发现：中国农民自杀现象存在类型化与空间化的典型特征；农民自杀是社会结构与自杀行动两者互构共变的产物；20世纪90年代中后期以来，农村老年人自杀渐趋严重，预计未来10～20年内，中国农村老年人自杀潮将加剧。