# The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

23 Hacker News commenters recommended The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for reshaping how people view early human societies, using recent anthropology and archaeology. Critics say it cherry-picks evidence and projects modern views onto the past.

## Why people recommend it

- Changes views of early humanity (3 comments): "David Graeber wrote a great book called "Dawn of Everything" that really explains how newer techniques in anthropology have upended what we believe about modern humans." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162957)) "the aforementioned book was the first I've read in a while that really rewired my personally held mythos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47772951)) "Dawn of Everything changed a lot how I viewed early humanity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47723357))
- Well researched, uses recent evidence (3 comments): "Incredibly well researched looking at the latest scientific findings from anthropology and archeology." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49474450)) "one of the most well researched anthropological and sociological works" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47723812)) "the part about native American influence on the enlightenment they have a lot of sources for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865535))
- Challenges popular ideas about state formation (2 comments): "does a great job challenging some popular ideas around state formation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48993168)) "it challenges that frame of reference in a way that is clarifying, in the sense of being a palate cleanser" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46176328))
- Shows varied past social structures (4 comments): "talk about the ongoing process of power negotiations between the putative leadership class and the citizenry" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48103759)) "to understand the kinds of human organizational structures that are possible and have existed in the past" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48349260)) "very convincingly argued that the idea of modern democracy came from Indian tribes in Northern America" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48261595))

## What people warn about

- Accused of ignoring contrary evidence (2 comments): "the authors present many things as fact which weren't true or hand wave away or omit contradicting facts/viewpoints" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49090129)) "that's exactly where he gets criticized for ignoring most of the evidence and cherry-picking examples." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46249249))
- Seen as ideologically motivated (2 comments): "the book has been widely criticized for that assertion, as Graeber is extremely ideologically motivated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46246867)) "a tremendous amount of projecting a particular modern viewpoint onto the past" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45988374))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cadillac-desert.md): 18 recommend
- [The Box by Marc Levinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/box.md): 16 recommend
- [Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sapiens.md): 13 recommend
- [Chip War by Chris Miller](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chip-war.md): 13 recommend
- [Showstopper! by G. Pascal Zachary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/showstopper.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250858801?tag=YOURTAG-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/YOURID/9781250858801) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dawn-of-everything/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).