![[Book Club | Discussion Part 3&4] Dawn of everything: A new history of humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/O8JxQ0po7e.jpg){kind=link}
David Graeber and David Wengrow – ‘The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity’. This new book from Graeber and Wengrow seeks to challenge assumptions about human social evolution and narratives of a linear development from primitive brutes to civilised people. Instead, the authors draw attention to the diversity of earlier human societies, arguing that humans had lived in large, complex, and decentralized societies for thousands of years. In doing so, Graeber and Wengrow fundamentally transform both our understanding of the past, and our vision for new ways of organising society in the future.
Schedule
- Thursday 23rd December - Foreword, Chapters 1 & 2
- Sunday 2nd January - Chapters 3 & 4
- Sunday 9th January - Chapters 5 & 6
- Sunday 16th January - Chapters 7 & 8
- Sunday 23rd January - Chapters 9 & 10
- Sunday 30th January - Chapter 11 & Conclusion
As ever, I'm behind with the reading and I'm only on chapter 5, but so far I really like the book. I feel like it does exactly what the Davids set out to do in the introduction which is dispel many of the myths surrounding early humans - whether this be the noble, innocent savage, the violent savage, or the stupid savage - and early human societies - such as certain hierarchies or ways of arranging things being natural or inevitable. I do think that the Davids sometimes make some claims that they don't really back up properly with evidence or sources, and I think they sometimes can linger on a particular point too much or invest a little too much in a particular source but on the whole they make their overall argument well and I look forward to the rest of the book. Hopefully I can catch up with the reading and contribute more to the discussion next week.
I'll echo your sentiments and also add that maybe the tempo of this series was a little fast for my ability. I'm still on chapter 3 as life always gets in the way. However I'm skipping ahead for this week to chapter 8 because the formation of early cities is a fascinating topic to me being an urbanist. Once I've read and digested some of it I'll come back and share my thoughts.
I think the Winter break/New Year might necessitate shorter books.
Yeah, at least I'm always overburdened with stuff that suddenly piles up that nothing gets done in early january
Are you familiar at all with the work of Owen Hatherley? I have one of his books about socialist city building that I'm thinking of reading next?
Not heard the name, no. That sounds interesting though!
Yeah while it's got an accessible writing style and isn't at all a drag to read, it's still dense as fuck. It may be a decent idea to slow these threads down a little bit so people can catch up and digest.