The shortest summary of the book would be: David Graeber rejected the thesis that there was a utopian society in Madagascar in the 18th century in which the indigenous population and a larger group of pirates lived together in harmony. Much of the knowledge about this utopian society seems to have been invented by Daniel Dafoe. However, this doesn’t mean that there was no co-operation between the pirate settlements and the indigenous population. With the help of his anthropological fieldwork, Graeber tries to show that the ideas of the European Enlightenment came from the pirates and the Betsimisaraka confederation. All in all, the thin book is all over the place. Graeber admits at the beginning of the book that he wanted to write an essay, but is now selling it as a short book for economic reasons. Unfortunately, the quality of the content suffers as a result. For much of the book, Graeber describes the political, economic and social dynamics of the various peoples of Madagascar. The pirates and the Enlightenment really get a raw deal. Nonetheless, I appreciated that Graeber also explores Madagascan women and their social opportunities and does not simply forget them like much of the (earlier ?) scholarship. In the end, Graeber's only argument to prove that the philosophers copied the idea of democracy from the pirates is the ‘egalitarian’ structure of the pirate ships. In other words, apart from the captain and the quartermaster, there was no real hierarchy on pirate ships. The crew could elect their captain, decisions were made democratically except during battles. Furthermore, two men were allowed to have a vow which was, in a sense, a law equivalent to a marriage. It secured that one of them would get the loot if the other died. This is not enough for me… especially if I compare the „voting system“ of the pirate ships and the English „trial by jury systems“ in the Middle Ages.

I decided to read this book because it was discussed on the podcast SRSLY Wrong, and the hosts interviewed the author. I had high hopes, but this is boring as shit. I’d recommend just listening to that podcast if you’re interested in the subject matter