The dawn of everything : a new history of humanity
(Adult Book)
Author
Contributors
Wengrow, D., author.
Published
Toronto : Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart, [2021].
Format
Adult Book
ISBN
9780771049828 :, 077104982X
Physical Desc
xii, 691 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
Status
Description
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Copies
Location | Call Number | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|
Non-Fiction (Adult) - Non-Fiction Shelves | 901 G73 2021 | Checked Out | April 26, 2024 |
More Details
Published
Toronto : Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart, [2021].
Language
English
ISBN
9780771049828 :, 077104982X
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could only be achieved by sacrificing those original freedoms, or alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. Graeber and Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of arming, 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 learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what's really there. If humans did not spend 95% 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? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful 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 a faith in the power of direct action.
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Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Graeber, D., & Wengrow, D. (2021). The dawn of everything: a new history of humanity . Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Graeber, David and D., Wengrow. 2021. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Graeber, David and D., Wengrow. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart, 2021.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Graeber, David,, and D. Wengrow. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart, 2021.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
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