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

Outline

  • Kestrel [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    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.

      • Invidiarum [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, at least I'm always overburdened with stuff that suddenly piles up that nothing gets done in early january

    • Helmic [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      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.

    • RedCloud [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      me being an urbanist

      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?