"Originally published in 2021 by Allen Lane, Great Britain"-- Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-673) 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 neighbours 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 social 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.