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 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 dialectic 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 illustrate how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual blinders 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 during all that time? If agriculture and cities did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organizations 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 open to playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and begins to imagine 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.

媲美《槍炮、病菌與鋼鐵》《人類大歷史》，探討人類文明的開創性巨作
不自由、不平等、國家體制是文明必然終點？
時代百大風雲人物、《債的歷史》作者 大衛﹐格雷伯（David Graeber）
╳
人文學科最高榮譽Albertus Magnus得主 大衛．溫格羅（David Wengrow）
攜手領航──
一場顛覆文明演進的所有假設、揭示人類全新自由的旅程
「一本顛覆傳統歷史觀，解放思考慣性，開啟無數新研究方向的重磅作品。兩位學者整理了近二、三十年來考古學、民族學的重要發現，對長期以來視為當然的社會演化觀點提出尖銳的質疑，並提出一套新的書寫世界史的可能。無論你是否同意他們壯闊的論證，我們再也無法繼續用過去的方式看待人類的歷史。一本應該要出現在所有人書架上的著作。」
——林開世，台灣大學人類學博物館館長
★★★
「歐威爾政治寫作獎」（Orwell Prize for Political Writing ）2022年決選書
《紐約時報》暢銷書榜No. 2
《星期日泰晤士報》《觀察家報》《BBC歷史》年度選書
Amazon編輯選書
★★★
Amazon 4,000條、Goodreads 8,000條五星評等，譯成超過三十種語言，引發全球矚目
閱讀本書的過程中，將伴隨著數百個頓悟時刻。
▍各界推薦
王道還｜生物人類學者
林開世｜台灣大學人類學博物館館長
洪廣冀｜台灣大學地理環境資源學系副教授
陳其南｜知名人類學家、前故宮博物院院長
寒波｜「盲眼的尼安德塔石器匠」科普作家
超級歪SuperY｜說書YouTuber
顏擇雅｜作家
▍內容簡介
有意識地避免可能帶來不平等的制度？人類先祖除了狩獵採集之外或許比我們更能「反思」？
用「生產方式」當作人類史論斷依據會有什麼問題？新石器時代人群如何避免農業？
如果沒有遁入層層階級制度與權力關係，社會將可能發展成何種樣貌？
☀ 回到原點，看見人類社會千變萬化的可能
以嶄新視角理解人類歷史，挑戰社會演進的基本假設：從農業興起、城市到國家的起源、民主與不平等的必然路徑。
揭示將人類從束縛中解放的新可能性，讓我們得以想像不同形式的自由，以及組織社會的新方式。
從狩獵採集逐漸轉為農業，人類從部落、村莊走入城市、國家之中；同時，科技和技術不斷發展，我們穿越了石器時代、金屬器時代，邁向工業革命。一切似乎皆如此清晰明瞭。隨著文明進步而逝的是「高貴野蠻人」狀態的自由和平等，只能犧牲那些原初的自由走向「文明化」，而我們也被迫接受不自由的現狀，視之為進步的必要代價。大衛．格雷伯和大衛．溫格羅卻告訴我們──未必如此，還有其他可能！
藉由開創性的考古學與人類學研究，作者揭示當我們暫且擺脫進步觀點的束縛時，人類歷史將以超乎固有想像、無比有趣的方式展開。人類的先祖既非過著田園詩生活的蒙昧孩子，亦非本性兇殘而不得不設法結盟才能生存下去的野蠻人，而是具有複雜人性、批判性、豐富想像力的人群，在人類史的長河中不斷地變換、拆除、重建制度，實驗社會型態的各種可能，同時避免落入「不自由」的處境。不禁令人反思：我們為何會困在此處？
本書根本性地改變了我們對於人類過去的理解，並提供一條新的思維路徑，讓我們得以想像不同形式的自由，以及組織社會的新方法。兩位作者經過十年的精心醞釀，以極具說服力的廣博知識和強而有力的論點，挑戰過去對歷史進程的解讀方式，為人類開創自由新局帶來了希望。
▍國際好評
這不是一本書。這是一場知識盛宴。沒有一章不（充滿樂趣地）破壞根深柢固的知識信念。本書深刻、毫不費力地顛覆過往、事實嚴謹且讀起來令人愉快。——《黑天鵝效應》作者 納西姆﹒尼可拉斯﹒塔雷伯（Nassim Nicholas Taleb）
作者並不滿足於對人類歷史重大問題的不同答案，堅持要徹底改變我們所提出的問題。結果是帶來一場目眩神迷、獨創而令人信服的陳述，展現了「前現代」原住民生活所體現的豐富、有趣、反思且實驗性的討論，亦是對人類學和考古學思想史具有挑戰性的重寫。本書理應成為所有後續研究這些宏大主題的出發點，那些啟航者將擁有無與倫比的領航員──兩位大衛。——當代人類學大師、《反穀》作者 詹姆斯﹒斯科特（James C. Scott）
引人入勝的探究，引導我們重新思考人類能力的本質，以及人類歷史上最自豪的時刻，還有我們與原住民社會的文化和其中被遺忘的知識分子的交流和借鑑。深具挑戰和啟發。——語言學家、現代語言學之父 諾姆﹒杭士基（Noam Chomsky）
這本書就像一顆炸彈，顛覆了我們對人類歷史的一切觀念。──肯﹒弗雷特（Ken Follett），《每日郵報》
無疑是一部新的人類史，在重新審視史前史的基礎上，慶祝人類的自由與可能性，重啟過去讓創造新的未來有所可能。──歷史學家、「歐威爾政治寫作獎」評審團主席 大衛﹒艾傑頓（David Edgerton）
作者成功地推翻了我對世界歷史的所有思考。本書徹底而優雅地反駁了歷史的進化論，引領我們到一個富有智識、創造力並複雜的人類世界，幾千年來發明了幾乎所有可以想像得到的社會形式，並追求自由、知識和實驗。作者不僅揭穿了進步神話，還講述了一段激動人心的思想史，關於神話是如何產生、為何續存，以及對我們希望創造的公正未來意味著什麼。這是我三十年來讀過的最深刻、最令人興奮的書。──美國歷史學家、《自由夢想》（Freedom Dreams）作者 羅賓﹒凱利（Robin D.G. Kelley）
很可能是這十年來最重要的書，因為它打破了我們社會生活不可避免地由國家主導的深深根深柢固的神話。── 詹姆斯﹒麥克唐納（James H. McDonald），《紐約圖書評論》（New York Journal of Books）

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.

Durante séculos, nossos ancestrais foram considerados primitivos e infantis, sendo divididos em duas categorias: iguais, livres e inocentes ou guerreiros e brutais. Com base no pensamento de Jean-Jacques Rousseau e de Thomas Hobbes, a ideia que perdurou ao longo dos anos foi a de que só poderíamos alcançar a civilização sacrificando essas liberdades ou domesticando nossos instintos mais básicos.

Neste livro revolucionário, o antropólogo David Graeber e o arqueólogo David Wengrow demonstram como essas teorias que emergiram no século XVIII foram uma reação à crítica feita por povos indígenas à sociedade europeia – e por que elas estão erradas. Ao oferecer essa nova perspectiva, os autores questionam tudo o que conhecemos sobre as origens da agricultura, da propriedade, das cidades, da democracia, da escravidão e da própria civilização, iluminando outras formas de liberdade e organização social e nos convidando a imaginar qual futuro desejamos para nós mesmos.

Now in paperback, the updated and expanded edition: David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt

Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional he shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.

Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.

Before there was money, there was debt.

Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it.

Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that for more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.

Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.

Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history, and what it means for the credit crisis of the present day and the future of our economy.

官僚制度原意是一种乌托邦想像, 然而在公, 私部门渐趋模糊, 甚至统合为一的现代国家中, 官僚制度对于人们的干扰不减反增, 引发严重的弊害.本书由结构暴力, 扼杀人类整体创造力与政治价值等三个角度切入, 希望填补左派长久以来对于官僚制度的批判空缺, 更希望能启动对话, 重新检视在现今体制中, 究竟有哪些因素能把我们带往真正自由的社会, 又有哪些因素会让人们逃不出被奴役的命运.

Everywhere anarchism is on the upswing as a political philosophy - everywhere, that is, except the academy. Anarchists repeatedly appeal to anthropologists for ideas about how society might be reorganized on a more egalitarian, less alienating basis. Anthropologists, terrified of being accused of romanticism, respond with silence...But what if they didn't? This pamphlet ponders what that response would be and explores the implications of linking anthropology to anarchism. Here, David Graeber invites readers to imagine this discipline that currently only exists in the realm of possibility: anarchist anthropology.

From bestselling writer David Graeber, a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs, and their consequences.

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.” It went viral. After a million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

There are millions of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs.

Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation.

From the author of the international bestseller Debt: The First 5,000 Years comes a revelatory account of the way bureaucracy rules our lives  

Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come from? How did we come to spend so much of our time filling out forms? And is it really a cipher for state violence?
 
To answer these questions, the anthropologist David Graeber—one of our most important and provocative thinkers—traces the peculiar and unexpected ways we relate to bureaucracy today, and reveals how it shapes our lives in ways we may not even notice…though he also suggests that there may be something perversely appealing—even romantic—about bureaucracy.
 
Leaping from the ascendance of right-wing economics to the hidden meanings behind Sherlock Holmes and Batman, The Utopia of Rules is at once a powerful work of social theory in the tradition of Foucault and Marx, and an entertaining reckoning with popular culture that calls to mind Slavoj Zizek at his most accessible.
 
An essential book for our times, The Utopia of Rules is sure to start a million conversations about the institutions that rule over us—and the better, freer world we should, perhaps, begin to imagine for ourselves.

Now in paperback, the updated and expanded edition: David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt 

Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: he shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.

Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.

From bestselling writer David Graeber—“a master of opening up thought and stimulating debate” (Slate)—a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs…and their consequences.

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.” It went viral. After one million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

There are hordes of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs.

Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. “Clever and charismatic” (The New Yorker), Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation and “a thought-provoking examination of our working lives” (Financial Times).

<b>Before there was money, there was debt</b><br /><br /> Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it.<br /><br />Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that for more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. <br /><br /> Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.<br /><br /><i>Debt: The First 5,000 Years </i>is a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history, and what it means for the credit crisis of the present day and the future of our economy.

Estrondoso sucesso nos Estados Unidos e nos vários países onde foi traduzido, Dívida: os primeiros 5.000 anos é não apenas um dos mais importantes livros de história e antropologia econômicas dos últimos tempos, mas também uma obra fundamental para entender o atual estágio do capitalismo.
Nele, o antropólogo americano David Graeber apresenta em nova perspectiva a história da dívida e do crédito, bem como da origem do dinheiro.
A análise abrangente de Graeber põe em xeque mitos dos estudos econômicos, como o de que o dinheiro teria sido inventado para substituir o escambo. O antropólogo demonstra que, antes mesmo da criação da moeda, existiram civilizações que lidaram com elaborados sistemas de endividamento e comércio.
O aparecimento do dinheiro trouxe consequências violentas para as sociedades, e a dívida, antes ligada à reciprocidade e à troca de favores, tornou-se um instrumento de escravização, dominação e guerra - como continua a ser, ainda hoje.
Uma fascinante e inédita história da civilização emerge neste livro, com ênfase na dimensão social das relações econômicas e uma crítica radical ao modo como o capitalismo, por meio do endividamento, produz controle e destruição.