mkmk’s Reviews > The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity > Status Update

life-changing, truly. pls read this if you're interested in hierarchy and if you believe it's a hoax of a modern society and that we were never meant to life like this

"[A]lmost everywhere [...], a man or woman's money and other wealth was ritually burned at death — and as a result, the institution served as an effective levelling mechanism."

What's more, ppl earned wealth through hard work. Imagine if we lived in a world where inherited wealth and wealth accumulation didn't exist and people worked for the betterment of their communities instead of for CEOs/companies...

Ruling classes are simply those who have organized society in such a way that they can extract the lion's share of that surplus for themselves, whether through tribute, slavery, feudal dues or manipulating ostensibly free-market arrangements.

Brilliant!

When we simply guess as to what humans in other times and places might be up to, we almost invariably make guesses that are far less interesting, far less quirky — in a word, far less human than what was likely going on.