The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins [Paperback]

Books about the origins of humanity dominate bestseller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. We are obsessed with prehistoryand, in this respect, our current era is no different from any other in the last three hundred years. In this coruscating work, acclaimed historian Stefanos Geroulanos demonstrates how claims about the earliest humans not only shaped Western intellectual culture, but gave rise to our modern world.Winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Ralph Waldo Emerson Award History may not be bunk, but prehistory is: So argues Stefanos Geroulanos in his spirited new book... The more you want to upend the status quo, the more likely youll be to venerate an idyllic past. The reverse is also true: The more you want to preserve the status quo, the more likely youll be to scorn the past as horrific  or, at least, unsustainable. Geroulanos traces the long history of Europeans depicting Indigenous and colonized peoples as savage  thereby rationalizing every violent measure used against them, from brutality to annihilation. The strength of Mr. Geroulanoss book lies in its breadth. It ranges easily from the pseudoscience of Freud and Jung (for both of whom idiosyncratic notions of prehistory were important) to Nazi obsessions with origins, Unesco debates about racism and modern feminist strains of social theory. Mr. Geroulanos has a good ear for prose and a knack for defamiliarizing expressions that should seem stranger: His pages on the phrase the thin veneer of civilization, for example, are extraordinary. The book is lavishly and thoughtfully supplied with illustrations that enrich the discussion. . . . The problem of prehistory remains enormous, indeed, and it is humbling to be reminded of its abuses. Mr. Geroulanos has done so vividly. An incisive and captivating reassessment of prehistory . . . In lucid prose, Geroulanos unspoolló=