The Dawn of Everything
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The Dawn of Everything A New History of Humanity

A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social 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? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? 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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Photo of Truman M Halladay
Truman M Halladay@tru__man
4.5 stars
Dec 28, 2023
Bold
Addictive
Fascinating
Sophisticated
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Alican Sungur@asungur
5 stars
Oct 15, 2023
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Thomas Steur @brainforshit
5 stars
Sep 1, 2023
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Keven Wang@kevenwang
3 stars
Feb 4, 2023
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Felipe Saldarriaga @felipesaldata
5 stars
Jan 3, 2023
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Sloan, Kara@kayraw
5 stars
Jun 9, 2022
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Caitlyn Baldwin@caitlynkbaldwin
5 stars
May 9, 2022
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M@wiessner
5 stars
Jul 23, 2023
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Ferran@ferran
4.5 stars
Jul 16, 2023
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Benjamin@ben729
5 stars
Jul 15, 2023
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Bastien Vaucher@bastien
4 stars
Jun 18, 2023
Original
Thought provoking
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Brooke@brookryn
5 stars
Apr 22, 2023
Bold
Remarkable
Awe-inspiring
Sophisticated
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Kincaid MacDonald@riddlepress
5 stars
Jan 18, 2023
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Doug Belshaw@dajbelshaw
5 stars
Aug 5, 2022
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Sebastian Leck@sebastianleck
3 stars
Jul 4, 2024
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Barış Yarsel@pagan
1 star
Jun 15, 2024
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Nathan Knowler@knowler
5 stars
Dec 29, 2023
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Heiki Riesenkampf@hrk
3 stars
Dec 18, 2023
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Maurice FitzGerald@soraxtm
5 stars
Dec 10, 2023
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Johannes Ecker@haenschenhans
4 stars
Oct 12, 2023
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Drew Spartz@drewspartz
4 stars
Jan 26, 2023
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Phil James@philjames
5 stars
Jan 20, 2023
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Roel Vandenhoeck@rovan
3 stars
Aug 31, 2022
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Mounir Bashour@bashour
4 stars
Aug 15, 2022

Highlights

Photo of fareez
fareez@fareez
Page 20
Photo of fareez
fareez@fareez
Page 18
Photo of Bastien Vaucher
Bastien Vaucher@bastien
Page 473
Photo of Bastien Vaucher
Bastien Vaucher@bastien
Page 229
Photo of Bastien Vaucher
Bastien Vaucher@bastien
Page 163
Photo of Bastien Vaucher
Bastien Vaucher@bastien
Page 150
Photo of Bastien Vaucher
Bastien Vaucher@bastien
Page 111
Photo of Stephen Schenkenberg
Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
Page 80
Photo of Stephen Schenkenberg
Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
Page 44
Photo of Stephen Schenkenberg
Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
Page 37
Photo of Stephen Schenkenberg
Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
Page 23
Photo of Stephen Schenkenberg
Stephen Schenkenberg@schenkenberg
Page 21
Photo of Peter Schoppert
Peter Schoppert@katong
Photo of Chris Aldrich
Chris Aldrich@chrisaldrich
Page 43