Episode 29: Anarchism is...The Dawn of Everything

Just before his death, David Graeber completed a manuscript of a book called The Dawn of Everything - both a serious attempt to provide an entirely new story of the origin of "civilization" and playful takedown of other recent books that purport to explain civilization. Written with David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything raises many fabulous and provocative questions: what if it was indigenous Americans, not Europeans, who started the Enlightement? What if the modern state isn't "progress" but actually a form of society that's been tried and discarded hundreds of times? And, most of all, what if most humans lived much more free lives than almost anyone alive today?

Join me as a I try to explain the answers Graeber and Wengrow give to these questions. And don't worry: I'll have some archeologists and anthropologists on the show soon to provide expert opinions on the book.