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Here is the summation of a lifetime of research
and speculation on nearly on nearly every aspect of human
development by one of the world's greatest scientists. Professor
Darlington's book is a revolutionary advancement of the
work begun by Darwin's The Descent of Man, and, like
that work, it will stand as a landmark in the history of
modern thought.
Darlington sees history as a continuation
of the Darwinian process -- an endless interplay of genetics
and environment. Within this structure he ranges, with the
clarity, wit and grace of a master stylist, over all of
human history, using recent advances in genetics (many due
to Darlington himself) as well as anthropology, archeology
and sociology to achieve a radical new perspective. He shows
how human heredity has shaped not only man's physical evolution
but the development of his personal and social life. In
Darlington's brilliant vision, breeding patterns have determined
religion, war, migration, industry, kingship, the rise and
fall of empires, artistic achievement, and all the other
important features of social history.
The Evolution of Man and Society
is full of grave lessons, profound insights, luminous summations,
startling speculations on the critical issues in human history:
the conflict between materialism and idealism in American
culture, the genetic basis of racial conflict, the anthropology
of conquest, the evolution of aristocracy, the social function
of religion, the dawn of man, the genesis of political revolution.
In addition, Darlington's analysis yields
literally thousands of fascinating details: the biological
significance of the laws of the Jews, the effect of interbreeding
on royal families, the development of pubic hair, the genetic
origins of Alexander the Great's military prowess, the biological
reasons for the decline of Venice, the disastrous consequences
of the olive for the civilization of Greece, the effects
of mating habits on social development....
The Evolution of Man and Society
is an inexhaustible store of knowledge and insight, to be
reread and pondered -- and perhaps to change the course
of modern thought.
Professor C. D. darlington is a Fellow
of the Royal Society, Sherardian Professor of Botany and
Regius Professor of Biology at the University of Oxford,
Director of the Innes Horticultural Institution and Keeper
of the Botanic Gardens of the University of Oxford. He is
the author of The Facts of Life, The Evolution
of Genetic Systems, The Handling of Chromosomes,
Genetics and Man, Darwin's Place in History,
Chromosome Botany and the Origins of Cultivated Plants,
and other works.
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