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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
VERY dense and long! I got a lot of value out of the first half and then lost interest.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
(3.5 stars)
This book is chock-full with academic and anthropological anecdotes, stories that put commonsense ideas about the state, and how "natural" it is for large groups of people to necessarily ascribe to exploitative systems of governance, in their right place. With humor and poise, the authors take on the large task of re-orienting the reader's questions about the "origins of inequality" towards questions about why we might ask such questions to begin with; why do we assume that inequality is an inevitable, even natural part of human existence? It certainly hasn't been in the past, even in large polities like cities of the Mississippi River region or early Mesoamerica, and it certainly doesn't have to be.
Several repeated ideas are quite useful: for example, the emphasis on schismogenesis, or the tendency of cultures to define themselves against another group who they are definitively *not*, was quite striking. In addition, while it seemed contrived at first, the authors' outline of three freedoms, 1) the freedom to move, 2) the freedom to ignore orders, and 3) the freedom to imagine novel social arrangements, was also quite helpful to me. Rather than only being limited to small groups of hunter-gatherers, these freedoms were actually present in several clearly "urban" or "organized" societies, such as Minoan Crete, Teotihuacan, and even among groups in southern California.
What struck me the most, however, is not something that was new, but a reiteration; that history should not and cannot be viewed teleologically, that is, from the back to the front. To do so is the stuff of myth-making -- myths are not bad per se, in fact, myths are sometimes *more* true than objective realities. However, the myth that all of history has been an inexorable march towards strong states and a singular, globally dominant form of economic exchange where a few individuals are apt to experience an inordinate amount of wealth accumulation was "inevitable" isn't a myth, it's a nightmare. What this book does, with its anti-teleological and more emergent view of history, is it puts our inherited chronologies in their rightful places, that is, in the trash, if we only let it be so.
The only thing going against this book is that it is so ambitious it occasionally trips up over the weight of its own project. I respect it for what it gives, and what the authors have been able to prove, but each chapter takes diversions, goes down rabbit holes, and takes so many turns that, as a reader, I was left disoriented at times. I think the style is endearing, however, especially with the overly long section-headers. It is that special balance of academic and humorous that really clicks with me.
While there is more to be said, I would just recommend that you read the book if you are at all interested in history or social theory. Even if not, you may become interested as you read the authors' abilities to take on the current state of things (pun intended) and present new, creative interpretations of our species' history.
This book is chock-full with academic and anthropological anecdotes, stories that put commonsense ideas about the state, and how "natural" it is for large groups of people to necessarily ascribe to exploitative systems of governance, in their right place. With humor and poise, the authors take on the large task of re-orienting the reader's questions about the "origins of inequality" towards questions about why we might ask such questions to begin with; why do we assume that inequality is an inevitable, even natural part of human existence? It certainly hasn't been in the past, even in large polities like cities of the Mississippi River region or early Mesoamerica, and it certainly doesn't have to be.
Several repeated ideas are quite useful: for example, the emphasis on schismogenesis, or the tendency of cultures to define themselves against another group who they are definitively *not*, was quite striking. In addition, while it seemed contrived at first, the authors' outline of three freedoms, 1) the freedom to move, 2) the freedom to ignore orders, and 3) the freedom to imagine novel social arrangements, was also quite helpful to me. Rather than only being limited to small groups of hunter-gatherers, these freedoms were actually present in several clearly "urban" or "organized" societies, such as Minoan Crete, Teotihuacan, and even among groups in southern California.
What struck me the most, however, is not something that was new, but a reiteration; that history should not and cannot be viewed teleologically, that is, from the back to the front. To do so is the stuff of myth-making -- myths are not bad per se, in fact, myths are sometimes *more* true than objective realities. However, the myth that all of history has been an inexorable march towards strong states and a singular, globally dominant form of economic exchange where a few individuals are apt to experience an inordinate amount of wealth accumulation was "inevitable" isn't a myth, it's a nightmare. What this book does, with its anti-teleological and more emergent view of history, is it puts our inherited chronologies in their rightful places, that is, in the trash, if we only let it be so.
The only thing going against this book is that it is so ambitious it occasionally trips up over the weight of its own project. I respect it for what it gives, and what the authors have been able to prove, but each chapter takes diversions, goes down rabbit holes, and takes so many turns that, as a reader, I was left disoriented at times. I think the style is endearing, however, especially with the overly long section-headers. It is that special balance of academic and humorous that really clicks with me.
While there is more to be said, I would just recommend that you read the book if you are at all interested in history or social theory. Even if not, you may become interested as you read the authors' abilities to take on the current state of things (pun intended) and present new, creative interpretations of our species' history.
While reading this book of history I found my mind constantly fired with hope and possibility for the future. If the past is not necessarily what we've been told, as this "new history of humanity" argues, then the future is perhaps not limited in ways we've been led to believe. Hierarchy, violence, and domination were not and are not inevitable. Evolution, in history as in biology, does not follow a linear trajectory from less complicated/inferior to more complex/superior, leading inevitably and blessedly to US! When we undertake the admittedly gargantuan task of removing our own blinders, we can see the profound wisdom and vast accomplishments of human societies now lost or driven to the far periphery (the Haudenosaunee Confederation, the Sami of Lapland, the Minoans) as our shared human legacy, part of our own rich human inheritance of freedom and creativity to use and repurpose. I found this book to be a potent antidote to the books by Yuval Noah Harari and Jared Diamond.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
You know that whole history of humanity that sees our current situation as an inevitable outcome of agriculture, cities, and industry? Well, it's wrong. You know what that means?...
NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS INEVITABLE. PEOPLE IN THE PAST HAD AGENCY, AND WE HAVE AGENCY TOO.
If I could give this book another star I would. It's hard to explain how much awe I am feeling after having read this massive, absolutely audacious, brilliant, and beautifully optimistic work. David Granger and David Wengrow have convincingly been able to rewrite so much of human history. And where they are unconvincing, or at least only somewhat convincing, they have opened the floor up for immensely productive conversations.
This book is not only sending shockwaves throughout the field of anthropology and the social sciences more broadly, but I believe many of its ideas about human history will be adopted in high schools, and eventually become as widely known as the "agricultural revolution" (which, as they argue rather convincingly, was by no means a revolution).
It's a time commitment for sure, so don't worry if you don't have time to pick it up. I'll tell you allllllll about it next time I see you. :D
NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS INEVITABLE. PEOPLE IN THE PAST HAD AGENCY, AND WE HAVE AGENCY TOO.
If I could give this book another star I would. It's hard to explain how much awe I am feeling after having read this massive, absolutely audacious, brilliant, and beautifully optimistic work. David Granger and David Wengrow have convincingly been able to rewrite so much of human history. And where they are unconvincing, or at least only somewhat convincing, they have opened the floor up for immensely productive conversations.
This book is not only sending shockwaves throughout the field of anthropology and the social sciences more broadly, but I believe many of its ideas about human history will be adopted in high schools, and eventually become as widely known as the "agricultural revolution" (which, as they argue rather convincingly, was by no means a revolution).
It's a time commitment for sure, so don't worry if you don't have time to pick it up. I'll tell you allllllll about it next time I see you. :D