Part 2: “The Dawn of Everything” by Graeber/Wengrow – from chapter 9 to the end!
Details
Welcome back, readers! In our last meeting (on February 17) we discussed chapters 1-8 of “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity”. If you couldn’t join for that meeting, then you’re getting a second chance on March 17, as we’re dedicating another evening to Graeber’s/Wengrow’s magnum opus. This time we’re tackling the second half: chapters 9-11 and the conclusion. You’re very welcome to join, even if you weren’t there last time. It’s also not required to have finished the book.
During our previous discussion we jotted down some notes, which you can find as a lightly edited PDF here. They don’t capture the entire discussion, but you can get a feeling for what we talked about.
Looking forward to see some of you in March! Happy reading!
Here’s the book’s official description again:
> A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
> 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 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 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 farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.
> 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.
You can find more information and reviews on the book’s GoodReads page, and its Wikipedia page is also worth checking out.
Curious to join us? Order a copy at your local book shop or online:
An e-book is of course also available, along with audio versions and translations into various languages.
Our meeting is scheduled for March 17, 2026 and we usually discuss in English for 1.5-2 hours. You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create a safe setting.
The discussion takes place virtually in Zoom and the meeting link will be added to this event on the day it happens. Just check back here half an hour before the meetup starts!
It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book or whether you’ve attended before – everyone is welcome, as long as you have read at least a few pages and bring your impression.