Westerners tend to think of themselves as individualistic, but this is a recent development—scratch below the surface and you find a deep prehistory of tribalism. What did that look like? How were tribes and clans organized? Where did they come from? In The Indo-European Household, William Edward Hearn gives us the intimate details of life under what we could call “rugged collectivism”.

Starting from its tribal beginnings, Hearn traces the state’s growth, maturity, and demise. And in the foreword, we learn just what these ancient social structures can mean for modern political praxis, religious reconstruction, and our understanding of our own Indo-European roots.

Most surprising of all, we learn that most of our institutions are still recognisably Indo-European. These people were the giants on whose shoulders stands all subsequent European history, and contained in this book is the blueprint that drove them to conquer the world.