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is how to do a book review. It tells about the book enough, with agreements and criticism, such that now i am curious enough to want to read it.

One thing i didn't see mentioned, about why today most humans live under states, is population. When there were a lot fewer people they could leave areas of harsh control for areas without hierarchies or proto-states. We have no such escape routes today because most of the good land is already controlled by other humans.

Maybe Graeber & Wengrow were going to get to this, but one thing not mentioned here, about why we have mostly states now, is psychological trauma. It's one thing to get fed up with Thag lording it over you so you head out for space where Thag can't get at you, and quite another where Thag & company not only chase you away but destroy the land on which you rely. Humans and land are not wholly separate things. From a certain angle they make one entity. The abuse of power that figured out demoralizing and infantilizing people could be achieved by destruction of their land base is, imo, why we are in the mess we are in.

Anyway, it sucks Graeber died.