1 Farewell to Humanity's Childhood
Or, why this is not a book about the origins of inequality
2 Wicked Liberty
The indigenous critique and the myth of progress
3 Unfreezing the Ice Age
In and out of chains: the protean possibilities of human politics
4 Free People, the Origin of Cultures, and the Advent of Private Property
(Not necessarily in that order)
5 Many Seasons Ago
Why Canadian foragers kept slaves and their Californian neighbours didn't; or, the problem with 'modes of production'
6 Gardens of Adonis
The revolution that never happened: how Neolithic peoples avoided agriculture
7 The Ecology of Freedom
How farming first hopped, stumbled and bluffed its way around the world
8 Imaginary Cities
Eurasia's first urbanites in Mesopotamia, the Indus valley, Ukraine and China and how they built cities without kings
9 Hiding in Plain Sight
The indigenous origins of social housing and democracy in the Americas
10 Why the State Has No Origin
The humble beginnings of sovereignty, bureaucracy and politics
11 Full Circle
On the historical foundations of the indigenous critique
12 Conclusion
The dawn of everything