Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1996 - Nature - 350 pages
"Remarkable and utterly fascinating" (Jane Goodall), author Dale Peterson and Harvard University biological anthropology professor Richard Wrangham's Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence is a groundbreaking study on human violence.

Whatever their virtues, men are more violent than women. Why do men kill, rape, and wage war, and what can we do about it?

Based on human evolution studies and about our closest living relatives, the great apes, Demonic Males presents a compelling argument that the secrets of a peaceful society may well be, first, a sharing of power between males and females, and second, a high level and variety of sexual activity, both homosexual and heterosexual.

Dramatic, vivid, and sometimes shocking, but firmly grounded in meticulous scientific research, Demonic Males will stir controversy and debate. It will be required reading for anyone concerned about the spiral of violence undermining human society.
 

Contents

PARADISE LOST
1
TIME MACHINE
28
ROOTS
49
RAIDING
63
PARADISE IMAGINED
83
A QUESTION OF TEMPERAMENT
108
RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE
127
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
153
MESSAGE FROM THE SOUTHERN FORESTS
220
TAMING THE DEMON
231
KAKAMAS DOLL
252
FAMILY TREES
259
MAPS
262
NOTES
265
BIBLIOGRAPHY
301
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
331

LEGACIES
173
THE GENTLE APE
200

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About the author (1996)

Wrangham ia a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University.