The Dawn of Everything (David Graeber and David Wengrow)

in response to Elena

SEEKING: fiction and nonfiction books on ancient history Am dreaming of a book that is the gift meets valley of the girls. IMO the Turkish tv show the gift + Kelly Link’s short story valley of the girls would make an amazing read but I would love any rec for books that: A) are a fascinating read about archeology (even nonfiction) B) delve into ancient history/art/daily life through an archeological (but not white) lens C) are fiction that engage on these topics or involve time travel through ruins (but aren’t a super straight girl romance ala Outlander) Other context: I have read Noah Yuval Hariri (loved sapiens) have also read pretty much every Madeline Miller and Greek/roman mythological story I can get my hands on and the Pompeii trilogy by Elodie Harper.

Visit

Not strictly ancient history, but lots of reflections on viewing archeological and anthropological records through non traditional points of view to shed a new light received history of why inequality exists in AngloEuropean societies. Very long, and I don’t always agree with their conclusions, but I found it fascinating.

Books

2 months ago

Comments

Elena

@elenaclaroquesiAug 12, 2026

Thank you for the rec!! I appreciate it and will check it out

Across Rec League

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Coco Quizon

“It’s hard to describe how much I love this book. I grew up as a pop non-fiction reader, thinking about histories as linear and how we got to the proverbial “here” was simply a progression of “this happened, and so this happened, and that’s why this exists.” And, this book flips that.”

188