THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER AND BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2022 'Pacey and potentially revolutionary' Sunday Times 'Iconoclastic and irreverent ... an exhilarating read' The Guardian For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike - either free and equal, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser ...
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THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER AND BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2022 'Pacey and potentially revolutionary' Sunday Times 'Iconoclastic and irreverent ... an exhilarating read' The Guardian For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike - either free and equal, 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 reaction to indigenous critiques of European society, and why they are wrong. In doing so, they overturn our view of human history, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery and civilization itself. Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we begin to see what's really there. If humans did not spend 95 per cent 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 history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful 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 faith in the power of direct action. 'This is not a book. This is an intellectual feast' Nassim Nicholas Taleb 'The most profound and exciting book I've read in thirty years' Robin D. G. Kelley
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Add this copy of The Dawn of Everything to cart. $18.90, very good condition, Sold by Open Books Ltd rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Allen Lane.
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Very good. Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that provides literacy experiences for thousands of readers each year through inspiring programs and creative capitalization of books.
Add this copy of The Dawn of Everything to cart. $32.00, good condition, Sold by Twice Sold Tales rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ashfield, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Allen Lane.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Size: 6x1x9; 2021 Allen Lane (UK) hardcover-some wear to edge of dustjacket-dings at corners of cover-some pencil note taking for 1st 125 pages-otherwise binding strong contents fine-enjoy.
This is an astonishing novel. Well written, compelling, full of surprising historical detail and compelling characters. Excellent pacing kept me turning pages. It's a keeper. Beautiful book!