Betafo, a rural community in central Madagascar, is divided between descendants of nobles and descendants of slaves. Anthropologist David Graeber uncovers the layers of historical, social, and cultural knowledge required to understand a disastrous communal ordeal and elaborates a new view of power, inequality, and the political role of narrative.

Betafo, a rural community in central Madagascar, is divided between the descendants of nobles and descendants of slaves. Anthropologist David Graeber arrived for fieldwork at the height of tensions attributed to a disastrous communal ordeal two years earlier. As Graeber uncovers the layers of historical, social, and cultural knowledge required to understand this event, he elaborates a new view of power, inequality, and the political role of narrative. Combining theoretical subtlety, a compelling narrative line, and vividly drawn characters, Lost People is a singular contribution to the anthropology of politics and the literature on ethnographic writing.