Baby Wars: The Dynamics of Family Conflict [Hardcover]

Robin Baker (Author), Elizabeth Oram (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999

Profoundly persuasive, this controversial book sheds light on the darkest secrets of family life and reveals the deep, genetic reasons behind its outward irrationalities and the purpose underlying its most apparently destructive drives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As changes in the structure of the family pervade modern society, experts from many fields are racing to explain the ramifications and origins of these variations. Baker and Oram (Sperm Wars) sidestep social science and psychology to discuss the genesis of today's family dynamics from the standpoint of evolutionary biology. The authors draw on recent research to attempt to show that the basis of familial conflict lies not in our psyches but in our genes, and to prove the provocative if narrow theorem that natural selection drives family members to position themselves for "reproductive success" in either the present or the long run. They range widely over such topics as infidelity, postpartum depression, incest and mate selection, with fictional scenarios that will strike a familiar chord for many readers. In each, they emphasize how the characters (and by extension, all humans) are motivated by a desire to replicate as favorably as possible. The authors further assert that these drives are hardwired into our genetic makeup. Baker and Oram emphasize that familial conflicts are normal, inevitable and educational, and that even apparently destructive and irrational actions have a deep-seated biological coherence. Written specifically for a lay audience, this primer on the Darwinian viewpoint in the nature vs. nurture debate is bound to be controversial.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

An insightful look into the conflicts of family life, this book provides vignettes instead of psychological case studies to illustrate the theme of the book: having children brings conflict into people's lives. Baker (Sperm Wars, LJ 11/1/96) and Oram assert that "every aspect of parenthood generates a biological conflict of interests" and that internal conflict is a normal and inevitable feature of parenthood and family life. Although the book doesn't paint a rosy picture of parenthood, it is a compelling read that will make readers ponder the actions behind their own family conflicts. Covering many aspects of evolutionary biology and including topics such as conception, sibling rivalry, and even aging in humans, this is a challenging and thought-provoking book. Recommended for public and academic libraries.ASheila Devaney, Peace Coll. Lib., Raleigh, NC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Ecco Pr; 1st edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880016582
• ISBN-13: 978-0880016582
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,655,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For video interviews and a wider-ranging biography, to read both praise for and criticism of his books, and to see the controversies they have triggered, visit www.robin-baker.com.

Dr Robin Baker was born in Wiltshire, England in 1944, and grew up in the small village of Manningford Bruce in the Vale of Pewsey. The tiny 2-room school he attended had fewer than 30 pupils, with all the under 7s taught in one room and all the 7-11 year olds in the other. Between the ages of 11 and 18 he attended the nearby Marlborough Grammar School where coincidentally, 30 years earlier, the author William Golding had also been educated; all later pupils were expected to be very familiar with Golding's classic book LORD OF THE FLIES.

After obtaining a First Class Honours degree in Zoology, then a PhD, at the University of Bristol, Robin Baker lectured in Zoology at the Universities of first Newcastle-upon-Tyne and then Manchester where, in 1981, he became Reader in Zoology in the School of Biological Sciences. In 1996 he left academic life to concentrate on his career in writing and broadcasting.

He has published over one hundred scientific papers and many books. These include the international bestseller SPERM WARS which was based on his own lab's original research on human sexuality and which has so far been translated into 23 languages. His work and ideas on the evolution of human behaviour have been featured in many television programmes around the world.

His first novel PRIMAL - described by many as an adult LORD OF THE FLIES - was published in the UK and USA in 2009. In 2010-11 it will also be published in translation in Holland, Israel, France, Brazil and the Czech Republic.

Since 2002 he has lived in the foothills of the Spanish Sierras with his partner, the writer Elizabeth Oram, and their family. He has six children.