Life updates, book updates, parting thoughts. Mentioned: "On historical materialism and The Dawn of Everything" by David Wengrow Endgame: Economic Nationalism and Global Decline by Jamie Merchant Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire by Adam Greenfield Organization, Community, Continuity by Peter Gelderloos Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health by Micha Frazer-Carroll The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis Survival is a Promise: The Enternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood and "Open the Gates" by Irreversible Entanglements. (thanks to International Anthem for permission to use the song). Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]

Our SECOND TO LAST episode of the season! We are joined by Nick Smaligo to talk through the major themes of The Dawn of Everything, and of Graeber's work in general. Nick was full of insights. Nick's essay on The Dawn of Everything: "Closing Paradise's Gate" Also mentioned: The Terms of Order by Cedric Robinson -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" and "Thank You for the Path" by Big Blood. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]

This is not our last episode on The Dawn of Everything, but here we discuss the concluding chapter of the book, which summarizes the book's project while moving forward on some of its new ideas. Next time we will be joined by a guest to help us think about the book as a whole. Mentioned: Secrets, Lies, and Consequences (about Mircea Eliade) by Bruce Lincoln -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

We are joined by two of our good friends, who deliver a nuanced Indigenous response to The Dawn of Everything, centering on Chapter 11's treatment of Mississippian culture. They also share about an indigenous earthwork that they have recently helped to construct in the city of Bulbancha (a.k.a. New Orleans, Louisiana). Links to further reading, courtesy of our guests: The Great Power of Small Nations by Elizabeth Ellis    [Ellis podcast interview] The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere by Paulette F.C. Steeves    [Steeves podcast interview] Gods of Thunder - Timothy R. Pauketat    [Pauketat podcast interviews here and here] ArchaeoEd: A podcast about ancient civilizations of the Americas A Sacred Path: The Way of the Muscogee Creeks Stolen Anarchy: Playing Indian & The Roots of Collectivism | TwinRabbit Plains Sign & the Myth of Indigenous Illiteracy | TwinRabbit Deciphering Cherokee ritual imagery deep in the caves of the American South nanihbvlbancha.net IG: @nanihbvlbancha _*_*_*_*_*_*_ Book on Fire Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood, Selections from "Disaster Prone" mixtape by Deejay Karo. Cover photo by Joe Darensbourg. Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

In the last full chapter of the book, the Davids return to Turtle Island to argue against the inevitability of domination and to give historical context for the indigenous critique of European society. -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]

Hungry ancestors, play kings, and copious cosmetics. The conclusion of our discussion of Chapter 10. Mentioned: One River book by Wade Davis The King Must Die book by Mary Renault Cover image from a fresco at Knossos, on the island of Crete. -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies"  and "Blind Owl I" by Big Blood. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]

Regarding history, teleology and the state, and the three elementary forms of power. Our discussion of the first half of Chapter 10. Cover image from a detail of the Raimondi Stele from Chavín de Huántar, Peru. -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "That Glow in the Morning" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

We finish discussing Chapter 8 and move on to Chapter 9. More early cities, and a type of democracy uncovered in Spanish chronicles of Mesoamerica. Mentioned: Henry Corbin, French scholar of Islamic philosophy, and his book Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "R Mountain" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

Cities emerge around the world. What are they like? We return to discuss Chapter 8 of our book. Mentioned: Mountain Gardens  website, instagram Fight Like an Animal podcast -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Jewel of the Blue Ridge" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]            

We return from halftime to talk more about early farmers and the vast middle ground that spans foraging and agriculture. Mentioned: "Low Level Food Production" by Bruce Smith, 2001. -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Offering" by Anna Luisa. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

We continue our halftime break in our reading of The Dawn of Everything to review and summarize a book that is cited in Dawn, and written by a friend and colleague of the Davids. This book is Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by James C. Scott. Among other virtues, it provides some possible answers to questions that Graeber and Wengrow persistently dodge. -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

We go slightly off-book for this episode to explore whether we can find something to affirm in the Garden of Eden myth. Mentioned: Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent Per Faxneld, Satanic Feminism Peter Grey, Lucifer: Princeps -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Earth Wakes Up" by Sarah Louise. Cover image by Thomas Little @a.rural.pen Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

A close look at the early days of cultivation and domestication. Check out our Book on Fire EXCLUSIVE timeline of dates and places from the chapter Mentioned on the show: "Engels was Right: Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal" by Chris Knight "Anatomy of a Backlash: Concerning the Work of Marija Gimbutas" by Charlene Spretnak "The Dangerous Populist Science of Yuval Noah Harari" by Darshana Narayanan A random mainstream anthropology site delineating "horticulture" as a subsistence strategy   -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "That Glow in the Morning" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]       The      

The rest of our discussion of Chapter 5. Towards the end of this episode we share thoughts about where the book has taken us so far. - Mentioned on the show: "Why foragers choose acorns before salmon: Storage, mobility, and riskin aboriginal California" by Shannon Tushingham and Robert Bettinger Jasper Bernes' essay on Revolutionary Motives - For more on wild tending in California and in general: Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson Wild Tending series at the Ground Shots podcast -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Maintenance in Loving" by Anna Luisa. "Barbarism Begins at Home" by the Sm/ths. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]

Why are people different from their neighbors? The first half of our discussion of Chapter 5. Since we recorded this we learned that the Northwest Coast Hall of New York's Museum of Natural History, created by Franz Boas in 1899, and which we describe on the podcast as being outdated, recently underwent a 5-year renovation in which a member of the Huupa‘chesat-h First Nation participated, and reopened in 2022. (New York Times) Mentioned on the show: Zora Neale Hurston's anthropological work -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "That Glow in the Morning" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

The continuation of our conversation about Chapter 4 of The Dawn of Everything: Free People, the Origin of Cultures, and the Advent of Private Property. Mentioned: What is Politics? podcast (youtube) An article by David Wengrow about Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse Netflix series The Songs of Trees by David George Haskell Mountain Gardens Mountain Gardens on Youtube -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Offering" by Anna Luisa. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]            

Recorded during a windstorm amidst trees falling around the house, the first half of our conversation about Chapter 4: Free People, the Origin of Cultures, and the Advent of Private Property. Mentioned: "The Original Affluent Society" by Marshall Sahlins -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" and "Thank you for the Path" by Big Blood. "That Glow in the Morning" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]                  

In Chapter 3, Graeber & Wengrow use elaborate ice age burials and impressive building projects, along with more recent examples of cultures who changed their social structures according to the seasons, to suggest that perhaps our original political freedom is the freedom to erect and dismantle hierarchies at will. We're experimenting with including visual timelines to help us keep track of all the history that's included in the book. See the timeline for Chapter 3. (A different presentation of the same timeline, in website form, is here.) Mentioned in the episode: Kolomoki Mounds "Resetting History’s Dial? A Critique of David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything" by Walter Scheidel Seasonal Variations of the Eskimo, by Marcel Mauss and Henri Beuchat -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Deliberation" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

In this episode we put the book down and explore some anthropology that the Dawn of Everything is at odds with. Take it slow--it's a long one and there's a lot to cover. Mentioned on the show: What is Politics? podcast Hierarchy in the Forest by Christopher Boehm Sarah Hrdy, primatologist and anthropologist Radical Anthropology Group "Gender Egalitarianism Made us Human" by Camilla Power "Did Communism Make us Human?" by Chris Knight The Evolution of Beauty by Richard Prum The First Domestication by Raymond Pierotti and Brandy R. Fogg -*- our Discord community for further discussion -*- Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Earth Wakes Up" by Sarah Louise. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]      

"Wicked Liberty: The Indigenous Critique and the Myth of Progress", in which we see how indigenous Americans' devastating critique of European society caused a stir when it made its way back to Europe. This one ends on a spicy note--Dave is not happy with how the chapter ends. Mentioned: Chapter 3 of Caliban and the Witch, "Taming the Rebel Body" on how the Age of Enlightenment made way for capitalism. NEW: We've started a Discord community in case folks are interested in more discussion around these books and ideas. Join us! Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" and "Thank you for the Path" by Big Blood. Buy us a coffee :: Email us at thebookonfirepodcast@gmail.com [[ Dave & Janet's Radical Vitalism :: Blog :: Instagram ]]