Popular text books were published in europe that were bast selers. They did discuss things like sexual freedoms and divorce, which were difficult to discuss in other contexts. The general assumption is that when these subversive views are put into the mouths of a savage interlocutor like a essentiallyy is that its fabrication. It's the european author creating exactly, as you say, like a sock puppet to voice opinions that would be dangerous.
Astra Taylor interviews archaeologist David Wengrow on The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, his new book co-authored with the late David Graeber.
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Check out Hannah Arendt by Samantha Rose Hill reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781789143799