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Author | David Graeber |
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Subject | Anthropology |
Publisher | Farrar Straus & Giroux |
Publication date | January 2023 |
Pages | 208 |
ISBN | 9780374610203 |
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia is a book by David Graeber, published posthumously in 2023.
In Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia, author David Graeber argues that Ratsimilaho of the Zana-Malata Malagasy ethnic group and descendent of a pirate oversaw a period of democracy and peace as a precursor to the Age of Enlightenment. Graeber contests the common portrayal of Ratsimilaho as a European civilizer. [1]
The book began as an expansion of a chapter of Graeber's On Kings (2017). Revisiting his early 1990s anthropology dissertation work in Madagascar, Graeber focused on the Zana-Malata and Betsimisaraka ethnic groups. [1] Graeber finished writing the book in 2013. [2]
Allen Lane acquired the book's UK rights via Janklow & Nesbit in September 2022. [3] Its first print run with Farrar Straus & Giroux was 200,000 copies in the United States. [4]
Pirate Enlightenment placed on LitHub and The Guardian 's most anticipated books of 2023. [5] [6] Upon its release, it appeared on the Indie Bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction, based on reporting from independent bookstores in the United States. [7]