I’m in the first or second chapter of 's Dawn of Everything, and the unearned arrogance the Europeans display to the indigenous Americans is constantly thrown back in their faces.
“You don’t feed the hungry, even when when you have food to spare?”
“The only reason your men obey you is because you compel them with fear of violence?”
He goes on to argue that “enlightenment” ideals of human freedom and equality entered the primitive European brainpan through their experiences with truly free people who actually embraced equality. It’s a fun read
Dawn of Everything is the first book I would hand to a lib if I was going to try and turn them into a Marxist. Gotta shake those “west is best” and “muh human nature” brainworms first before you will get anywhere, IMO
If you’re into the Indigenous critique of colonial capitalist patriarchy / settler society or whatever name you like, As We Have Always Done by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a must read. I am telling everyone.
I’ve been reading “The Many-Headed Hydra” and it covers a similar idea. However it is focused on the Northern Atlantic and Anglos. They go into some detail about the wreck of the ship Sea Venture and the mutiny to stay free on Bermuda rather than return to class based rule. That wreck actually inspired The Tempest
