The book starts slow and feels pretty bleak, the history and accounts are relevant to understanding the process being shown, but still it’s a rough start. Once you get past that, the second half of the book more than makes up for the initial struggle. This book gives a big picture journey through the process by which colonization oppressed any culture that threatened it, targeting specifically rituals of collective joy, in the name of creating obedience by killing the connection and resilience that threatened colonial sterility. The book shows what we lose when these rituals of collective joy and resilience are limited, while offering hope in the persistent examples of humans constantly seeking out similar ways of recreating these lost or nearly lost rituals. This book is ultimately very hopeful while also being very direct about the importance of returning to mindful collective rituals of joy and connection.