Includes bibliographical references and index.

Farewell to humanity's childhood, Or, why this is not a book about the origins of inequality;
Wicked liberty: The indigenous critique and the myth of progress;
Unfreezing the Ice Age: In and out of chains: the protean possibilities of human politics;
Free people, the origin of cultures, and the advent of private property (not necessarily in that order);
Many seasons ago: Why Canadian foragers kept slaves and their Californian neighbors didn't; or, the problem with 'modes of production;
Gardens of Adonis: The revolution that never happened: how Neolithic peoples avoided agriculture;
The ecology of freedom: How farming first hopped, stumbled and bluffed its way around the world;
Imaginary cities: Eurasia's first urbanites in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Ukraine and China - and how they built cities without kings;
Hiding in plain sight: The indigenous origins of public housing and democracy in the Americas;
Why the state has no origin: The humble beginnings of sovereignty, bureaucracy, and politics;
Full circle: On the historical foundations of the indigenous critique;
Conclusion: The dawn of everything.

"A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution-from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality-and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation"-- Provided by publisher.