SKU: 48227375275

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

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The Invention of Prehistory : Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human OriginsBooks about the origins of humanity dominate best seller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. 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. The very idea that there was a

Books about the origins of humanity dominate best-seller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. 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. The very idea that there was a human past before recorded history only emerged with the Enlightenment, when European thinkers began to reject faith-based notions of humanity and history in favour of supposedly more empirical ideas about the world. From the "state of nature" and Romantic notions of virtuous German barbarians to theories about Neanderthals, killer apes and a matriarchal paradise where women ruled, Geroulanos captures the sheer variety and strangeness of the ideas that animated many of the major thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin and Karl Marx. Yet as Geroulanos shows, such ideas became, for the most part, the ideological foundations of repressive regimes and globe-spanning empires. Deeming other peoples "savages" allowed for guilt-free violence against them; notions of "killer apes" who were our evolutionary predecessors made war seem natural. The emergence of modern science only accelerated the West's imperialism. The Nazi obsession with race was rooted in archaeological claims about prehistoric IndoGermans; the idea that colonialised peoples could be "bombed back to the Stone Age" was made possible by the technology of flight and the anthropological idea that civilisation advanced in stages. As Geroulanos argues, accounts of prehistory tell us more about the moment when they are proposed than about the deep past-and if we hope to start improving our future, we would be better off setting aside the search for how it all started. A necessary, timely, indelible account of how the quest for understanding the origins of humanity became the handmaiden of war and empire, The Invention of Prehistory will forever change how we think about the deep past.

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SKU: 48227375275

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4.3 ★★★★★
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Candice K
San Leandro, US
★★★★★ 4
The squeeker isn't durable, but the balls themselves are.
Color: S6-muti-color, Color: S6-muti-color
I have two 70+lb, ball obsessed dogs (a field bred Golden Retriever, and an Old Time Scotch Collie), and these balls are living up to the abuse they're receiving. In the fall we always lose a ball or two in the yard due to getting lost in leaves or longer grass, so I always try and buy a multi pack at the start of the season, so went with these this year. I'm glad I did. Great price for a 6 pack, they fit the medium Chuck-It launcher (a little loosely, but they throw just fine), have great bounce, they FLOAT (which means I didn't lose any at the beach), and they're super durable to the dreaded "mouth squish." The squeaker dies pretty quick, like, within a day, but it isn't the kind that can fall out or choke your dog, so no worries there. The boys are happy, I'm happy, my wallet is happy - I've already ordered another pack.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2024
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S. Berg
Fort Morgan, US
★★★★★ 5
Good balls
Color: S6-glow
My dog is a chewer, and these have held up for close to a year actually a pretty good product
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Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2026
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nanny america
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 3
Disappointed
Color: S6-muti-color
These were great for about 20 minutes then they stopped squeaking...we have 2 left that I have saved but the other 4 do not squeak anymore...disappointed as my dog loves to squeak things...would not buy these again...My dog is only an 8lb dog too...but he can still play with the balls without the squeak...
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Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2026
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joymom
Omaha, US
★★★★★ 5
Great Value for a ball my dog loves!
Color: S6-muti-color
I wish these ball were in the subscription program! My dog gets sooo excited by the new ball, but her interest in things lasts for a few days. She kills the squeak within 11minutes, but the squeaker stays in place rather than becoming a chocking or swallow hazard, and she still loves to chew it. Next, we must throw the ball approximately 723 times the first day, possibly 496 times on day 2, and just 3- 4 on day 3, at which point she will chase the ball before hollering "it's over here if you need it," while she checks on the chipmunk den. We currently have 17 of these balls in our yard (because we have given several leftovers to a less discriminating doodle next door). These balls hold up really well, get her extremely active for the first couple of days, and are a much cheaper than doggie daycare (after an active morning with a new ball, she is happy to chew on it and sleep much of the day). I always have these on hand!
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Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2025
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Verified Purchase
Michelle
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 4
Pieces chewed off
Color: white & green
My Aussiedoodle loves it. I throw it down the hallway, it bounces crazy, and he chases it. The only complaint is that he can't chew much of the ball part. So now I have to have it put away and brought out for special playtime.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2026

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