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The cover of The Dawn of Everything

The Dawn of Everything

David Graeber, David Wengrow, 2021

Early humans tried many political forms, from seasonal police forces to cities without kings. The real question is not how inequality began, but how we got stuck.

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12 parts, about 40 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Overturns the familiar story that farming and cities forced humanity out of equality into hierarchy
  • Shows early peoples consciously choosing political forms, switching them with the seasons and walking away from rulers
  • Builds on recent archaeology across several continents and treats indigenous critiques of Europe as serious ideas

Who it is for

  • Readers who assume inequality is the price of civilization
  • Students of archaeology, anthropology or deep history
  • Activists asking whether other social orders are possible

What the summary covers

  1. Farewell to Humanity's Childhood3 min
  2. Wicked Liberty4 min
  3. Unfreezing the Ice Age3 min
  4. Free People, the Origin of Cultures, and the Advent of Private Property3 min
  5. Many Seasons Ago3 min
  6. Gardens of Adonis3 min
  7. The Ecology of Freedom2 min
  8. Imaginary Cities4 min
  9. Hiding in Plain Sight3 min
  10. Why the State Has No Origin5 min
  11. Full Circle3 min
  12. Conclusion: The Dawn of Everything4 min

Recommended by

  • Nassim Nicholas TalebAuthor of The Black Swan
    This is not a book. This is an intellectual feast.
  • James C. ScottSterling Professor at Yale and author of Seeing Like a State
    Not content with different answers to the great questions of human history, Graeber and Wengrow insist on revolutionizing the very questions we ask.

About the authors

  • David GraeberAnthropologist and activist who died in 2020
    • Master's degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago; 20 months of fieldwork in rural Madagascar from 1989 on a Fulbright
    • Assistant professor at Yale from 1998
    • Yale did not renew his contract in 2005
    • Professor at the London School of Economics from 2013
    • Credited by Rolling Stone with the Occupy Wall Street theme 'We are the 99 percent' (November 2011)
    • Died suddenly in Venice on 2 September 2020
  • David WengrowBritish archaeologist and professor of comparative archaeology at University College London

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