avatar

readeraholic

passionate reader of emotional and reflective fiction. always giving my unsolicited opinion.

4880 points

0% overlap
Iconic Series
Games & Trials
Level 6
My Taste
Book Lovers
The Little Prince
Against the Loveless World
All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey
Black Girl, Call Home
avatar

readeraholic paused reading...

1w

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

David Graeber

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. Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent 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 human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful 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 a faith in the power of direct action.

0
  • Les étoiles se sont rapprochées
    Sep 02, 2026
    Les étoiles se sont rapprochéesMylène Bouchard
    2.0
    Enjoyment: 1.0Quality: 1.0Characters: Plot:
    💔
    ✨️
    ✍️
    0
  • Fouiller les décombres
    Aug 31, 2026
    Fouiller les décombres Flavia Garcia
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 4.0Characters: Plot:
    🇦🇷
    ✈️
    🪁
    0
  • avatar

    readeraholic finished a book

    2w

    "Prisons Make Us Safer": And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration

    "Prisons Make Us Safer": And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration

    Victoria Law

    An accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals The United States incarcerates more of its residents than any other nation. Though home to 5% of the global population, the United States has nearly 25% of the world's prisoners - a total of over 2 million people. This number continues to steadily rise - over the past 40 years, the number of people behind bars in the United States has increased by 500%. Journalist Victoria Law explains how racism was the catalyst for mass incarceration and has continued to be its driving force: from the post-Civil War laws that states passed to imprison former slaves, to the laws passed under the War Against Drugs campaign that disproportionately imprison Black people. She breaks down these complicated issues into four main parts: 1. The rise and cause of mass incarceration2. Myths about prison3. Misconceptions about incarcerated people4. How to end mass incarceration Through carefully conducted research and interviews with incarcerated people, Law identifies the 21 key myths that propel and maintain mass incarceration, including: - The system is broken and we simply need some reforms to fix it - Incarceration is necessary to keep our society safe - Prison is an effective way to get people into drug treatment - Private prison corporations drive mass incarceration Prisons Make Us Safer is a necessary guide for all who are interested in learning about the cause and rise of mass incarceration and how we can dismantle it.

    0