The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Zweifellos wert, gelesen zu werden

"Revolutionär, umwälzend, " wird das Buch beurteilt. Ich glaube nicht alles, aber wer bin ich: kein Historiker. Sehr viel Neues habe ich über amerikanische, afrikanische Gesellschaften gelernt. Ich stimme den Autoren unbedingt zu, daß unser unzumutbar eurozentristisch ist. Ihren Interpretationen kann ich nicht immer folgen. Ihre Kritik an anderen Bestsellerautoren, Harari, Pinker, andere, scheint mir ab und zu kommerziellen Zwecken zu dienen. Selbst sichern sie sich geg

The dawn of everything

Top 3 takeaways from reading the book: - Pages 80-82: In terms of ancestry, all humans are Africans. Early humans were far, far more physically diverse than humans are today. Also, they acted very differently from each other. In fact, their social differences were even greater than their physical differences. Why? Early humans inhabited a wide range of natural environments - from coastlands and tropical forest to mountains and savannah. Also, early humans co-existed and interbred with smaller-br

New history of humanity

Due to complex wording in long sentences it takes time to read it. But it's a very thoughtful and respectable work.

Challenges the conventional wisdom of the early history of humankind

The authors challenge the conventional wisdom of the early history of humankind, how agriculture began, how cities were formed and organized, and the formation of states. It provides numerous examples from recent, within the last 30 years, archaeological finds as well as overlooked historical sources. Particularly interesting were the views of European society expressed by early Native American thinkers who visited Europe soon after it was rediscovered. The authors make a very good case that th

Wow, what a read. Graeber and Wengrow have produced a true magnum opus!

By exposing the gaps and flaws in our current "scientific" understanding of early history--an understanding which no longer holds up when challenged with the mass of data the authors have collected from recent discoveries in archaeology and anthropology, together with numerous older sources--Graeber and Wengrow present us with a unique and valuable opening--an entrance way, a methodology, a new language--to examine and rethink those fou

Brilliant and long overdue exposure of historically hidden insights

This book is brilliant. I can't but help hoping the sequels would somehow miraculously get published as well. I can understand many won't agree with the views posed here, but that's science for you my friends. You may not like the data, but that's what it is. This book opened an immense vista of possibilities on how the world could be. And it's no longer just hypothetical dream states like Thomas Moore's Utopia, these were actual states that existed. We can do better, we have done better, we sho

Eye opener

Well written. Thought-provoking and quite fascinating. I learned a lot. Very different from what I was taught at school. Highly recommended.

Excellenty book, very low quality printing

Please not that I am not young, so my eyesight is not what it used to be, however, I have difficulty reading the book in the evening without fairly bright ambient lighting. Also, the paper is recycled but it is very thin and its color is grayish, which further impacts the contrast of the faded ink. The content of the book is excellent and very intellectually stimulating. Truth is I expected a somewhat better product from penguin (compared to other, older pap

A bit much of a muchness

A book that raises expectations and fulfills many of them. A riveting overview of recent scholarship on political and social structures in pre- and early history, as well as the comparative politics of modern North American native societies, it questions the standard narrative of complex, agriculturally-based early states vs their origins in primitive, nomadic tribes. A certain lack of awareness when it comes to the role of women etc. does make this book less attractive to a reader in the early

Politisch motivierte Spekulation?

Das Buch ist recht interessant zu lesen, da es einen weiten Überblich über die Geschichte der Menschheit in Angriff nimmt, inklusive der vermuteten Mechanismen dahinter. Ein Historiker den ich kenne nannte das einmal "Geschichtsphilosophie". Viele neue Erkenntnisse werden eingebaut. Die gerne vernachlässigte Geschichte Amerikas vor Ankunft der Europäer wird immer wieder mit in den Vordergrund gerückt, was zu begrüssen ist. Soweit so gut. Das Problem ist, dass die Autoren sehr hart mit ande