The Book on Fire Podcast

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

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" and "Thank You for the Path" by Big Blood.

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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

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood.

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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

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood, Selections from "Disaster Prone" mixtape by Deejay Karo.

Cover photo by Joe Darensbourg.

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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.

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood.

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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.

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies"  and "Blind Owl I" by Big Blood.

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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.

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "That Glow in the Morning" by Sarah Louise.

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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

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "R Mountain" by Sarah Louise.

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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

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Jewel of the Blue Ridge" by Sarah Louise.

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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.

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood. "Offering" by Anna Luisa.

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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.

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Featured music: "Stars Sewn Into Our Skies" by Big Blood.

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