Sex and War How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World

by Potts, Malcolm; Hayden, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9781933771571
• ISBN10: 1933771577
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-10
• Publisher: Benbella Books

Summary

Human beings have been battling one another since time immemorial. But why war and terrorism? Why are men almost always the killers, and why are war and sex so inextricably linked? Why do we kill members of our own species intentionally, when few other animals do so?Sex and Wartraces the cultural and biological evolution of warfare from its prehuman origins through to our own times. In the spirit ofGuns, Germs, and Steel, Potts and Hayden pull together insights from history, archaeology, psychology and biology to produce a clarifying new understanding of human history and current events.Combining exhaustive research and rich personal experience,Sex and Warshows that war, terrorism, slavery, and the subjugation of women have common roots deep in our biological history. Evolution is not destiny, however, and the authors, with the crucial contributions of Martha Campbell, show how relatively simple strategies can help the biology of peace win out over the biology of war. In doing so, they lay out a rational roadmap to make war less likely in the future, and less brutal when it does occur.

Author Biography

Malcolm Potts is the Fred H. Bixby Professor of population and family planning at the University of California–Berkeley. He has worked internationally as an obstetrician and a research scientist for four decades. He is the author of Queen Victoria’s Gene and Ever Since Adam and Eve: The Evolution of Human Sexuality. He lives in Berkeley, California. Thomas Hayden is a freelance journalist and writer with a special interest in science, medicine, and culture. Formerly a staff writer at Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, his articles and reviews have appeared in National Geographic, Nature, and The Washington Post. He is the coauthor of On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story. He lives in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Sex and Violence	p. 1
The War of Nature	p. 17
The Missing Link	p. 39
We Band of Brothers	p. 63
Terrorists	p. 99
Women and War	p. 119
Raids into Battles	p. 147
War and the State	p. 175
War and Technology	p. 213
War and the Law	p. 241
Evil	p. 265
The Future of War	p. 283
Women and Peace	p. 303
Stone Age Behaviors in the Twenty-First Century	p. 333
Civilization at Its Best	p. 365
To the Reader	p. 385
References	p. 389
Index	p. 411
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.