The Dawn of Everything

A New History of Humanity

By: David Graeber, David Wengrow

Narrated by: Malk Williams

Brought to you by Penguin.

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.

'Pacey and potentially revolutionary' Sunday Times

'Iconoclastic and irreverent ... an exhilarating read' The Guardian

'Boldly ambitious, entertaining and thought-provoking' Observer

'This is not a book. This is an intellectual feast' Nassim Nicholas Taleb

© David Graeber, David Wengrow 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critic reviews

A boldly ambitious work ... entertaining and thought-provoking ... an impressively large undertaking that succeeds in making us reconsider not just the remote past but also the too-close-to-see present, as well as the common thread that is our shifting and elusive nature. (Andrew Anthony)

What a gift ... Graeber and Wengrow offer a history of the past 30,000 years that is not only wildly different from anything we're used to, but also far more interesting: textured, surprising, paradoxical, inspiring. (William Deresiewicz)

Iconoclastic and irreverent ... an exhilarating read ... As we seek new, sustainable ways to organise our world, we need to understand the full range of ways our ancestors thought and lived. And we must certainly question conventional versions of our history which we have accepted, unexamined, for far too long. (David Priestland)

Pacey and potentially revolutionary ... This is more than an argument about the past, it is about the human condition in the present. (Bryan Appleyard)

A fascinating, radical, and playful entry into a seemingly exhaustively well-trodden genre, the grand evolutionary history of humanity. It seeks nothing less than to completely upend the terms on which the Standard Narrative rests ... erudite, compelling, generative, and frequently remarkably funny ... once you start thinking like Graeber and Wengrow, it's difficult to stop. (Emily M. Kern)

A spectacular, flashy and ground-breaking retelling of human history, blazing with iconoclastic rebuttals to conventional wisdom. Full of fresh thinking, it's a pleasure to read and offers a bracing challenge on every page. (Simon Sebag Montefiore)

A timely, intriguing, original and provocative take on the most recent thirty thousand years of human history ... consistently thought-provoking ... In forcing us to re-examine some of the cosy assumptions about our deep past, Graeber and Wengrow remind us very clearly of the perils of holding ourselves captive to a deterministic vision of human history as we try to shape our future. (James Suzman)

An engrossing series of insights ... They re-inject humanity into our distant forebears, suggesting that our prevailing story about human history - that not much innovation occurred in human societies until the invention of agriculture - is utterly wrong. (Anthony Doerr)

Fascinating, thought-provoking, groundbreaking. A book that will generate debate for years to come. (Rutger Bregman)

Just awesome!

The audiobook is an amazing companion to the real thing.

The book itself is incredible well written and mind blowing.

Brilliantly mind opening

A stunningly detailed account of the key conceptions and misconceptions about early civilisation. A must read for anyone who thinks contemporary accounts of history just don’t add up.

The narration is compelling and sincere, a joy to listen to.

Overall whilst it is a mammoth undertaking it is rewarding, especially the well thought out conclusion.

Fascinating, challenging provocative and entertaining

A powerful critique of received wisdom and an open challenge to current researchers and university curriculums. Should be required reading for anyone interested in the human condition. Highly recommended

tremendous book, mostly excellent audio

this is really a thought-provoking volume. It's likely to radically change how the reader approaches other 'big history' works.

The audio production is also excellent. There is an occasional misreading (e.g., 'casual' for 'causal'), but given the scope of the subject matter, that's not unsurprising.

Interesting content

Wow, some real revelations about the history of social organization here. Learnt a lot, as I have from David Graeber's previous books