#### A New History of Humanity `Author:` [[David Graeber]] and David Wengrow `Availability:` [[Suggestions]] > [!info]- > > [!note]- Notes > > Review... ![[the-dawn-of-everything-1752927988.jpg]] ## Summary _The Dawn of Everything_ challenges conventional narratives about human [[History]], particularly the linear story that [[Civilisation]] arose inevitably from primitive hunter-gatherer societies through agriculture, [[Hierarchical|hierarchy]], and state formation. The authors argue that this progression is a myth born of Enlightenment-era assumptions rather than archaeological evidence. Drawing on recent discoveries from [[Anthropology]] and archaeology, Graeber and Wengrow present a more complex and diverse picture of early human societies. They demonstrate that prehistoric people experimented with different social and political arrangements—some [[egalitarian]], others hierarchical—often shifting between them seasonally or regionally. These societies were not passive products of their environments but active agents in shaping their own social worlds. The authors contend that concepts such as “[[Freedom]]” and “inequality” have been too narrowly defined. They highlight examples—from the urban centres of ancient Ukraine and Mesopotamia to [[Indigenous]] societies of the Americas—that reveal humans’ long-standing capacity for [[imagination]], political debate, and deliberate social design. Ultimately, the book reframes human history as a series of creative choices rather than an inevitable march toward inequality or [[Bureaucracy]]. Graeber and Wengrow propose that understanding this lost flexibility may inspire new ways of thinking about freedom and social organisation today. ## Quotes - ## Key takeaways - ## Notes `Concepts:` [[Sociology]] [[Books index]]