Books – David Graeber

The Utopia of Rules

Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come from? Why do we spend so much time filling out forms, and is it really a cipher for state violence? David Graeber explores these questions in The Utopia of Rules, revealing how bureaucracy shapes our lives in ways we might not notice. Combining social theory with popular culture, Graeber offers a powerful and entertaining analysis, challenging us to rethink the institutions that rule us and imagine a freer world.

First published 2015 Translations: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

What are kings?

We've all read fairy tales about kings and queens, princes and princesses, dragons and castles. And it's all true! They really were! Okay, except for the dragons - there weren't any. But there are plenty of books written about them. Why write another one? If only to understand why we're so interested in kings and queens. Where did they come from and how do we know that we have one of them in front of us? What can kings do and what are they afraid of? Who is more powerful - kings or queens? And what is more important - a king or a kingdom? To put it bluntly, thinking about kings is very exciting, especially together with the authors of this book, anthropologist David Graeber and artist Nika Dubrovsky.