Anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow are piecing together the puzzle of human history anew, challenging dominant ideas about societal development—specifically, the notion of a progression from egalitarian hunter-gatherer groups, through the agricultural revolution and urbanization, to the creation of hierarchical states. The authors argue that this traditional narrative bears no relation to the facts but merely perpetuates myths deeply rooted in historical scholarship; humanity may well have followed a completely different path. Drawing on archaeological and anthropological data—as well as insights from Indigenous thinkers—gathered over recent decades, Graeber and Wengrow invite us to view social history from a perspective outside the Western canon. The authors are realistic about the magnitude of their undertaking: it will take years for this new picture to be fully grasped and accepted by the academic community, making it all the more crucial to initiate a conceptual shift right now. *The Dawn of Everything* began as a kind of game—an informal dialogue between an anthropologist and an archaeologist about human history—and evolved into a captivating intellectual journey.