“The Dawn of Everything” by Graeber/Wengrow – let’s discuss chapters 1-8!
Details
Welcome back, readers! For this round we’ve chosen “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow. It’s Graeber’s final book and arguably his most ambitious.
Here’s the book’s official description:
> 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.
Sounds like we’ll have a lot to talk about! As always, you can find more information and reviews on the book’s GoodReads page, and its Wikipedia page is also worth checking out.
Now, it has to be said, this one is an intimidating brick at first sight, but don’t worry, it looks thicker than it actually is: The total page number may be around 700, but the actual text is just ~520 pages (without notes, index and bibliography). But even that is still a lot, so we’re doing something new: We’ll only discuss the first half, everything up to and including the eighth chapter, titled “Imaginary cities”. In the English hardcover version that’s until page 327. At the end of our discussion we’ll then decide whether we want to meet again for the remainder. You’re of course free to read ahead, but we’ll focus the discussion on chapters 1-8.
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 February 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.