"[A] magisterial interpretation of the rise and fall of human cultures and societies."
-- Robert Lekachman, Washington Post Book World
"Its persuasive arguments asserting the primacy of cultural rather than genetic or psychological factors in
human life deserve the widest possible audience."
-- Gloria Levitas The New Leader
"[An] original and...urgent theory about the nature of man and at the reason that human cultures take so many
diverse shapes."
-- The New Yorker
"Lively and controversial."
-- I. Bernard Cohen, front page, The New York Times Book Review
Random House, Inc. Web Site, January, 2002
Summary
By the distinguished American anthropologist, the brilliant study that shows how the endless varieties of cultural
behavior- often so puzzling at first glane- can be explained as adaptations to particular ecological conditions.
