I’m happy that I read (or well, listened) to this book. It’s made me much less apathetic about history and made me realise that the motherfuckers who sold it as an endless triade of mud farmers and divine kings were, in fact, selling something else and far more insidious than tedious history lessons in school.

For this purpose though at least two thirds of the book could probably have been dropped without losing anything important (to me), but I also appreciate the thoroughness. At least it told me anthropology is probably not my jam.

I also appreciate how the reader makes an effort to pronounce all the names, including the ones in French, Turkish, and a few other languages I’m not even sure anyone alive knows how to pronounce.