The Dawn of Everything
Books | History / World
4.3
(116)
David Graeber
David Wengrow
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.Includes Black-and-White Illustrations
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More Details:
Author
David Graeber
Pages
692
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published Date
2021-11-09
ISBN
0374157359 9780374157357
Community ReviewsSee all
"I’ve read quite a few anthropological examinations of human history that I wasn’t sure I needed to read another, it’s almost always the same overview with little tidbits that maybe weren’t included in the other books. I’m glad I read this, it was a different one that challenged the Eurocentric view of human history. Written in an engaging way with a unique and very important angle!!"
C
CaitVD
"A new look at human history and how civilizations formed. I know a lot of people liked this, but not me. I found it nearly impossible to follow a coherent narrative as the authors jump all over the place and give back stories. It’s odd in that it’s a history book, but they are trying to make a point. Just not for me, and it shouldn’t take 500 long pages to make the point they did. "
Sheldon Rapoza
"Thought provoking, daring to argue, a look at history through the eyes of anyone but European Enlightenment folks. They discuss women, the Americas, good versus evil, and what making one wrong broad assumption can alter the course of our understanding of the past. A great look at history, especially pre-writing/pre-history "
Cece Phelan
"Eye opener. Just tears apart everything we thought we knew about the forming of civilizations. It's a long read but so well written and easy to get into."
Sarah Anthony
"Loved this book. Provides a well researched perspective on history and brings questions on how we view the world from a post 1600’s Eurocentric philosophical perspective "
Alistair James
"Really challenges our current anthropological and archeological understanding of the development of society, the origins of inequity and what that means for our future. Honestly, one of the most interesting books I've read this year!"
Benjamin Tran