The Dawn of Everything (2021) by David Graeber and David Wengrow

When

I read this last summer.

Why

After learning about the book somewhere online, I was immediately interested once I learned it was a deep dive into the potential origins of our social relations. Given my grounding in Social Cognitive Domain Theory, and its emphasis on understanding social and moral judgments across varying social interactions and arrangements, I knew I had to check it out. And I am glad I did.

How

I do not think I have been this stimulated by a book intellectually since I read Solomon Asch’s Social Psychology (1952) in my doctoral program. I think this is a must-read for anyone interested in what research in archeology (Wengrow) and anthropology (Graeber), as a whole, brings to bear on our understanding of human social relations. Among the many ideas I found interesting and relevant to my broader scholarship aims on some level is their view that evidence from their respective fields suggests three freedoms fundamental to humanity: the freedom to move (relocate), the freedom to disobey authority, and the freedom to reorganize social relations. The book has informed my approach to Luke Cage (2023) and the in-progress manuscripts on Luke Cage and the X-Men.