Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes (Hardcover)

~ Dr. Frans de Waal (Author) "CHIMPANZEES HAVE OUTSPOKEN PERSONALITIES..." (more)
Key Phrases: triadic awareness, separating interventions, bluff display, Two Power, Jane Goodall, Social Mechanisms (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The great apes, like humans, can recognize themselves in mirrors. They communicate by sound and gesture, form bands along what can only be called political lines, and sometimes engage in what is very clearly organized warfare. (Less frequently, too, they practice cannibalism.) In Chimpanzee Politics Frans de Waal, a longtime student of simian behavior, analyzes the behavior of a captive tribe of chimpanzees, comparing its actions with those of ape societies in the wild. What he finds is often not pleasant: chimps seem capable of astonishing deviousness and savagery, which has obvious implications for the behavior their human cousins sometimes exhibit. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Fascinating to read." -- Amelie Koehler, Ethology

"When I first read this book, I was in Dar es Salaam with Jane Goodall. I had just returned from observing chimpanzees for two weeks at Gombe. After the real life experience, I expected a book about chimpanzee behavior -- and at a zoo, at that -- to make rather dull reading. But I was in for a surprise. De Waal's Chimpanzee Politics is as much fun as a tree full of wild chimps." -- Adrienne Zihlman, American Journal of Primatology

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; Revised edition (April 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801858399
• ISBN-13: 978-0801858390
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #734,007 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DISTURBING BUT USEFUL, May 23, 2006

By	C. Davis (Hanover, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes (Paperback)

Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes was a very disturbing book to read. Perhaps this is because of the way Franz de Waal chose to end the book. The story about how Luit finished his reign as "alpha male" was extremely upsetting.

One of the key themes in the book is that so called political behavior is rooted at a level of development that is below cognitive and is as much instinctive as it is learned. Learning about the male chimpanzee's quest for dominance, it makes one wonder how much our behavior is motivated by inherent drives that are not only irrelevant in modern cultures, but are unknowable by those who experience the motivation.

This book has changed the way I look at and understand the word around me.

I strongly recommend this book, but it is not for the faint-hearted.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reveals how human-like chimp behavior can be, October 27, 2002

By	Bradd E. Libby (Amherst, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes (Paperback)

This a a book that has gotten more attention for what people have said about it than for what is actually inside. Though there are some graphs and tables, don't let them scare you away: the text reads like a novel and certainly isn't overly technical or formally scientific. The story is a fascinating recollection principally about the sex and power struggles among a group of chimpanzees that lived in a zoo in the Netherlands in the mid 1970's.

Some have claimed that the author has advocated using the complexities of chimpanzee social structure to shed light on human politics, but, if anything, the exact opposite is true: de Waal says very little abut non-chimpanzee societies until the last chapter and, throughout the book, freely and unapologetically employs human intentions, actions, and emotions to shed light on chimp culture.

If you're prepared to cast aside any preconceived notions you may have, this book makes an enjoyable introduction to pop-sci primatology.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a survival guide for corporate america, March 26, 2001

By	J. R. Derry (austin, tx USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes (Paperback)

excellent book. de waal's thesis, as i understand it, is finding and exposing analogies to human behavior among other animals in order to better understand human behavior (a thesis he extends in _good natured_ to show that our "animal" behaviors are also behaviors of kindness and compassion) _chimpanzee politics_ reads like a novel as it follows chronicles the group dynamics of a chimpanzee colony over several years; and in those group dynamics we see enough sex, scheming, and politics to fuel a soap opera or election campaign. the mirror that de waal holds up to us through this book is at once funny, fascinating, and humbling. if one reason you read novels is to appreciate the universality of the human condition (that is, that you like to live vicariously in other times or places to experience conditions as other humans do), then get this book and prepare yourself to appreciate just how universal much of our condition really is. you might be surprised at just how easily you vicariously experience life as chimpanzees do.