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THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER AND BBC
HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR
POLITICAL WRITING 2022 'Pacey and potentially revolutionary' Sunday
Times 'Iconoclastic and irreverent ... an exhilarating read' The
Guardian For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as
primitive and childlike - either free and equal, or thuggish and
warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by
sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming
our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such
theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a reaction to
indigenous critiques of European society, and why they are wrong.
In doing so, they overturn our view of human history, including the
origins of farming, 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 begin to see what's really
there. If humans did not spend 95 per cent 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? The answers are often unexpected,
and suggest that the course of history may be less set in stone,
and more full of playful 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 faith in the power of direct action. 'This is not a
book. This is an intellectual feast' Nassim Nicholas Taleb 'The
most profound and exciting book I've read in thirty years' Robin D.
G. Kelley
Commodity branding did not emerge with contemporary global
capitalism. In fact, the authors of this volume show that the
cultural history of branding stretches back to the beginnings of
urban life in the ancient Near East and Egypt, and can be found in
various permutations in places as diverse as the Bronze Age
Mediterranean and Early Modern Europe. What the contributions in
this volume also vividly document, both in past social contexts and
recent ones as diverse as the kingdoms of Cameroon, Socialist
Hungary or online EBay auctions, is the need to understand branded
commodities as part of a broader continuum with techniques of
gift-giving, ritual, and sacrifice. Bringing together the work of
cultural anthropologists and archaeologists, this volume obliges
specialists in marketing and economics to reassess the relationship
between branding and capitalism, as well as adding an important new
concept to the work of economic anthropologists and archaeologists.
Commodity branding did not emerge with contemporary global
capitalism. In fact, the authors of this volume show that the
cultural history of branding stretches back to the beginnings of
urban life in the ancient Near East and Egypt, and can be found in
various permutations in places as diverse as the Bronze Age
Mediterranean and Early Modern Europe. What the contributions in
this volume also vividly document, both in past social contexts and
recent ones as diverse as the kingdoms of Cameroon, Socialist
Hungary or online eBay auctions, is the need to understand branded
commodities as part of a broader continuum with techniques of
gift-giving, ritual, and sacrifice. Bringing together the work of
cultural anthropologists and archaeologists, this volume obliges
specialists in marketing and economics to reassess the relationship
between branding and capitalism, as well as adding an important new
concept to the work of economic anthropologists and archaeologists.
It has often been claimed that "monsters"--supernatural creatures
with bodies composed from multiple species--play a significant part
in the thought and imagery of all people from all times. The
Origins of Monsters advances an alternative view. Composite
figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art of the
prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities, elites,
and cosmopolitan trade networks that "monsters" became widespread
features of visual production in the ancient world. Showing how
these fantastic images originated and how they were transmitted,
David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of human
image-making and embarks on a search for connections between mind
and culture. Wengrow asks: Can cognitive science explain the
potency of such images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to
understanding the transmission of symbols? How is our making and
perception of images influenced by institutions and technologies?
Wengrow considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical
reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life
began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery
across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual
imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and
universal factors. Examining the reasons behind the dissemination
of monstrous imagery in ancient states and empires, The Origins of
Monsters sheds light on the relationship between culture and
cognition.
The targeted destruction of ancient sites and monuments in the
Middle East provokes widespread outrage in the West. But what is
our connection to the ancient Near East? In this updated edition of
What Makes Civilization? archaeologist David Wengrow investigates
the origins of farming, writing, and cities in ancient Mesopotamia
(Iraq) and Egypt, and explores the connections between these two
civilizations. It is the story of how people first created kingdoms
and monuments to the gods and, just as importantly, how they
pioneered everyday practices that we might now take for granted,
such as familiar ways of cooking food and keeping the house and
body clean. Wengrow asks why these ancient cultures, where so many
features of modern life originated, have come to symbolize the
remote and the exotic. Today, perhaps more than ever, he argues,
the beleaguered cultural heritage of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
stands as a warning for the future. A warning of the sacrifices
people will tolerate to preserve their chosen form of life; of the
potential for unfettered expansion that exists within any cultural
tradition; and of blood perhaps yet to be spilled, on the altar of
a misguided notion of civilization.
It has often been claimed that "monsters"--supernatural
creatures with bodies composed from multiple species--play a
significant part in the thought and imagery of all people from all
times. "The Origins of Monsters" advances an alternative view.
Composite figurations are intriguingly rare and isolated in the art
of the prehistoric era. Instead it was with the rise of cities,
elites, and cosmopolitan trade networks that "monsters" became
widespread features of visual production in the ancient world.
Showing how these fantastic images originated and how they were
transmitted, David Wengrow identifies patterns in the records of
human image-making and embarks on a search for connections between
mind and culture.
Wengrow asks: Can cognitive science explain the potency of such
images? Does evolutionary psychology hold a key to understanding
the transmission of symbols? How is our making and perception of
images influenced by institutions and technologies? Wengrow
considers the work of art in the first age of mechanical
reproduction, which he locates in the Middle East, where urban life
began. Comparing the development and spread of fantastic imagery
across a range of prehistoric and ancient societies, including
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and China, he explores how the visual
imagination has been shaped by a complex mixture of historical and
universal factors.
Examining the reasons behind the dissemination of monstrous
imagery in ancient states and empires, "The Origins of Monsters"
sheds light on the relationship between culture and cognition.
In this authoritative and compelling 2006 survey of the archaeology
of early Egypt, David Wengrow offers an interpretation of the
emergence of farming economies and the dynastic state, c.10,000 to
2,650 BC. Exploring key themes such as the nature of state power,
kingship and the inception of writing, Wengrow illuminates
prehistoric social development along the Nile through comparison
with neighbouring regions. Detailed analysis of the archaeological
record reveals the interplay between large-scale processes of
economic and political change and intimate material practices
through which social identities were transformed, focussing upon
ritual treatments of the dead. Employing rich empirical data and
engaging critically with anthropological theory and the history of
archaeological thought, Wengrow's work challenges the theoretical
isolation of Egyptian prehistory and breaches the methodological
boundaries that separate prehistory from Egyptology. It is
essential reading for anybody with an interest in ancient Egyptian
civilisation or early state formation.
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