On a journey from the Chauvet Cave in France through Nefertiti’s Egypt, classical Greece, the libraries of the Aztecs, Ashoka’s India, Tang Dynasty China and other eras: This accessible and entertaining Big History by the German-American literary scholar Martin Puchner reveals the origins and foundations of human culture – and how cultural appropriation made this possible.
Why do we need art and culture at all? Why should we engage with our past? Martin Puchner tells a compelling story of why it is only through culture that we have been able to develop our abilities, and how, through our encounters, collective losses and rediscoveries, innovations, imitations and adoptions, it has driven societies forward over the centuries and ensured our survival. Culture cannot therefore be seen as the resource of a single group, but arises through exchange with others, as a borrowed form and fusion of ideas – through drawing, speaking and the storage of knowledge. Like a vast recycling project, small fragments are retrieved from the past and put to new use. Drawing on previously unknown examples, Puchner offers a fascinating new perspective on humanity and makes an important contribution to the debate on originality and cultural appropriation.
