So much of history writing is about the rediscovery of people, information and ideas that were previously ignored, belittled or suppressed. This book definitely falls into that tradition.
As someone who has read and loved this book and as someone who has also read and loved your Unmasking Autism book, I really enjoyed this post. Graeber’s work has always been inspiring to me and I love he and Wengrow’s approach. Such dense well cited material. And the hypotheses they put forward are very inspiring and convincing. I appreciated viewing these things through your lens as well. I am also a person who has appreciated chosen family over blood family. That part of Dawn of Everything really resonated with me as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts; it’s always nice to feel a sense of intellectual kinship. Also, this is helpful for sending to friends that I need to convince to read this book
Thank you for summarizing this book! It makes me feel hopeful yet sorrow; I always hated the way things are now. It feels like one large scale abusive relationship that we desperately need to all get out of. To be really free and get to say and do what we want without fear of punishment. I'm definitely going to get this book!
That’s such a great book, and I’m glad to know I’m not the only person who struggled a little to get through it – because it’s so dense and detailed, but also because of the emotional toll it takes. Your description of experiencing “an all-body sadness, and a strange instinctual nostalgia for a way of living I’ve never even seen” rang extremely true for me.
Thanks so much for this! When I was a teenager who didn’t get along with her parents, surrounded by peers who also didn’t really get along with their parents, I remember wondering if the not-getting-along was some sort of natural drive that progressed people’s lives/society forward. It’s really cool that this book kiiiinda touches on that idea. Reading about your alternate life made me emotional; I’ve also been longing for and imaging life outside these awful systems. I’m Filipina-American and getting in touch with my roots has helped me feel a lot closer to that.
Thank you very much for writing this. I want to read this book now to get a clearer idea of what you've written. I can feel my ideas around the past already being flipped on their head, rewriting how I view the present.
Your writing & Graber's writing have been lifelines for me, so this post was like watching brains I love playing together imaginally. I hope to one day read the whole book!
The bit about the cops transforming to clowns reminded me of Beautiful Trouble's story about former Bogotá mayor & philosophy professor Antanas Mockus, who fired corrupt traffic cops and then offered to retrain & hire them back as mimes, and the 400 that accepted actually created positive change in the traffic culture of the city.
It also reminded me of a bit from 'Anarchy — In a Manner of Speaking' (in the Anarchist Library) where Graeber's discussing activist group Tute Bianche's attempts to 'renegotiate the rules' with cops through the cunning use of giant puppets or a giant catapult to launch stuffed animals. Some among both groups had been in grade school together, but as Graeber put it, some "had the misfortune of becoming policemen."
Being directed to your substack by my favorite anarcho-queer comrade and then finding this post has absolutely made my day. <3
Thank you this is the spark notes I NEEDED, I’ve been wanting to read this ever since you told me about it but the page count has been so daunting!!
So much of history writing is about the rediscovery of people, information and ideas that were previously ignored, belittled or suppressed. This book definitely falls into that tradition.
As someone who has read and loved this book and as someone who has also read and loved your Unmasking Autism book, I really enjoyed this post. Graeber’s work has always been inspiring to me and I love he and Wengrow’s approach. Such dense well cited material. And the hypotheses they put forward are very inspiring and convincing. I appreciated viewing these things through your lens as well. I am also a person who has appreciated chosen family over blood family. That part of Dawn of Everything really resonated with me as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts; it’s always nice to feel a sense of intellectual kinship. Also, this is helpful for sending to friends that I need to convince to read this book
that vision of your alternate life is so beautiful!
Thank you for summarizing this book! It makes me feel hopeful yet sorrow; I always hated the way things are now. It feels like one large scale abusive relationship that we desperately need to all get out of. To be really free and get to say and do what we want without fear of punishment. I'm definitely going to get this book!
That’s such a great book, and I’m glad to know I’m not the only person who struggled a little to get through it – because it’s so dense and detailed, but also because of the emotional toll it takes. Your description of experiencing “an all-body sadness, and a strange instinctual nostalgia for a way of living I’ve never even seen” rang extremely true for me.
Thanks so much for this! When I was a teenager who didn’t get along with her parents, surrounded by peers who also didn’t really get along with their parents, I remember wondering if the not-getting-along was some sort of natural drive that progressed people’s lives/society forward. It’s really cool that this book kiiiinda touches on that idea. Reading about your alternate life made me emotional; I’ve also been longing for and imaging life outside these awful systems. I’m Filipina-American and getting in touch with my roots has helped me feel a lot closer to that.
Thank you very much for writing this. I want to read this book now to get a clearer idea of what you've written. I can feel my ideas around the past already being flipped on their head, rewriting how I view the present.
Your writing & Graber's writing have been lifelines for me, so this post was like watching brains I love playing together imaginally. I hope to one day read the whole book!
The bit about the cops transforming to clowns reminded me of Beautiful Trouble's story about former Bogotá mayor & philosophy professor Antanas Mockus, who fired corrupt traffic cops and then offered to retrain & hire them back as mimes, and the 400 that accepted actually created positive change in the traffic culture of the city.
It also reminded me of a bit from 'Anarchy — In a Manner of Speaking' (in the Anarchist Library) where Graeber's discussing activist group Tute Bianche's attempts to 'renegotiate the rules' with cops through the cunning use of giant puppets or a giant catapult to launch stuffed animals. Some among both groups had been in grade school together, but as Graeber put it, some "had the misfortune of becoming policemen."
Being directed to your substack by my favorite anarcho-queer comrade and then finding this post has absolutely made my day. <3
"a subset of human beings have always wanted to take a trek as far away as possible from their families."
To quote Karl Pilkington, wherever you go there's always a nutter who doesn't want to participate. 😄
I have never heard of them before! Thank you for sharing!