Storie dal basso. Recenti ricerche di storia sociale sull'Africa tardoantica
The article deals with a topic that has become central to the study of Late Antique social history, i.e. the degree to which commoners and peasants wielded political power and fostered political initiatives, as it can be reconstructed from a relatively abundant literary dossier. Two recent books centred on such topic are discussed vis-à-vis Shaw’s reconstruc- tion of the rise in violence in Late Antique Christian Africa.