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Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence [Paperback]

Dale Peterson , Richard Wrangham
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 14, 1997
Whatever their virtues, men are more violent than women. Why do men kill, rape, and wage war, and what can we do about it? Drawing on the latest discoveries about human evolution and about our closest living relatives, the great apes, Demonic Males offers some startling new answers. Dramatic, vivid, and firmly grounded in meticulous research, this book will change the way you see the world. As the San Francisco Chronicle said, it "dares to dig for the roots of a contentious and complicated subject that makes up much of our daily news."

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Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence + The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you harbor a sneaking suspicion that men are a herd of ignoble savages, then this book is for you. Authors Wrangham and Peterson will confirm your instincts. It turns out that hyperviolent social behavior is deeply rooted in male human genes and common among our closest male primate relatives. Rapes, beatings and killings are as much a part of life among the great apes as they are among us. The authors try to conclude on some upbeat notes that ring hollow, but their science reveals much about the dark side of human nature. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Contradicting the common belief that chimpanzees in the wild are gentle creatures, Harvard anthropologist Wrangham and science writer Peterson have witnessed, since 1971, male African chimpanzees carry out rape, border raids, brutal beatings and warfare among rival territorial gangs. In a startling, beautifully written, riveting, provocative inquiry, they suggest that chimpanzee-like violence preceded and paved the way for human warfare?which would make modern humans the dazed survivors of a continuous, five-million-year habit of lethal aggression. They buttress their thesis with an examination of the ubiquitous rape among orangutans, gorilla infanticide and male-initiated violence and hyenas' territorial feuds, drawing parallels to the lethal raiding among the Yanomamo people of Brazil's Amazon forests and other so-called primitive tribes, as well as to modern "civilized" mass slaughter. In their analysis, patriotism ("stripped to its essence... male defense of the community") breeds aggression, yet, from an evolutionary standpoint, they reject the presumed inevitability of male violence and male dominance over women.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 350 pages
  • Publisher: Mariner Books (November 14, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0395877431
  • ISBN-13: 978-0395877432
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Demonic males explains this question well. Shane Levine  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Aside from content, this book was written well enough that it became hard to put down at times. Joel Brown  |  8 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars humans are bellicose apes January 22, 2011
Format:Paperback
Fact: human males are extremely violent. Fact: our ape relatives are similarly extremely violent. Highly plausible: humans, along with our ape cousins, have a strong evolutionary disposition towards violence. This prospect is troubling, a tough pill for many people to swallow. Yet the data on ape behavior that are beautifully presented in this book, a simple consideration of the savagely violent nature of human history (and prehistory), as well as the many psychological studies that reveal how quickly humans form hostile coalitions (in some studies due to a coin toss), combine to make the idea that humans are evolutionarily violent difficult to ignore. The primate data also strongly challenge the notion that humans are violent because their culture has made them violent. If violence is based on "culture," then why are all the other apes so violent? And why has essentially every human culture ever documented exhibited patriarchy and male violence? The far more parsimonious explanation is that humans have a long evolutionary history of violence in which violent behavior led to reproductive benefits. The pacifists got killed or out-competed by their pugnacious peers.

OK, but why did evolution choose violence? Why was violence necessary? Demonic males explains this question well. There is a broad trend among mammals for males to be the more violent of the two sexes. This is because males can have a gigantic number of offspring. All a male needs to do is have sex. Women, on the other hand, need to grow the child inside them, so their reproductive prospects are much more limited. This leads to ferocious competition between males in the rat-race to reproduce as much as possible.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book is Epic October 17, 2001
Format:Paperback
This is among the best books I have read. I originally heard Wrangham on an NPR show discussing some facets of this book & quickly sought it out. It provides an excellent evolutionary background and discussions of humans' closest relatives- especially our closest, the chimpanzee and bonobo, whose life patterns are distinctly different from one another and provide some insight into human behavior and possibilities. The book is very well-written and highly readable regardless of a reader's background on the topic.
I had to write after reading some of the negative reviews and misinformation on the book- especially the first editorial review. The book is hardly as dark and disillusioning as it leads one to believe- quite the contrary. I finished the book a few months ago and am still pondering it. Highly recommended!
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Ape Within Us October 16, 1998
Format:Paperback
Wrangham presents some fundamental insights. Why do female gorillas stay close to their reigning silverback? Because only he can protect their babies from being killed by other silverbacks. Why do adolescent male chimpanzees intimidate every female in their group? So the youngersters will not be refused when it comes time for sex. Why do bonobos, physically similar to chimpanzees, behave in a much less violent manner? Because they evolved in a place where there were no gorillas to preempt an important food source. There are two kinds of male orang-utans, small ones that must rape to reproduce and large one that have no such need. These, and other insights, are carefully reasoned from the most recent field data. Perhaps not all of his explanations of ape behavior will stand the test of time but each of them is interesting and worth further research. The reader, male and female, is challenged into introspection: how much of the modern apes lies within our modern selves?
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After spending some time postulating theories which might help explain the motives and actions of school shooters, I gathered a list of relevant keywords such as aggression, violence, hate, and male, (since all school shooters I know of have been male) I found myself drawn to a handful of books which I subsequently checked out from my local library. Among these books was a copy of Demonic Males, which I chose (thank God) to read first. I was not disappointed.

In this book Wrangham makes a careful academic study out of his theory that human males are inherently aggressive or demonic as he says, and that this trait is inextricably bound to our common ancestory with apes, and in particular, chimpanzees. He shows this by contrasting human and chimp behavior with other apes, and detailing the calculated murderous behavior exhibited by both species. The result is fascinating. Wrangham carefully shows that aggression is a behavior that evolved in chimps and humans because it enables males to attain a higher status, which in turn guarantees a high percentage of success when feeding and also passing down our genes by sexual reproduction. This search for status he says, to become the alpha male, is the driving desire behind every male, and I could not agree more. As a good example of an aggressive male myself, I confidently say that this desire for status is a primary occupation for all men, especially when they are placed in situations with other males. This, Wrangham asserts, and I also believe to be true, is always the case, regardless of whether the choice to seek a higher status is conscious or not.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Enough monkeying around, lets talk theory
I originally purchased this book after reading Richard Wrangham's "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human" and was so impressed with the overall experience that i had to explore... Read more
Published 4 months ago by BruceB33
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding work.
Brilliant research and honest compilation of facts, answering many crucial and seemingly puzzling questions. Very pleased to have found this book.
Published on May 17, 2011 by L. Robertson
3.0 out of 5 stars Too many leaps in the wrong direction
I have to admit having picked up this book with reluctance, having read quite a few articles and papers by Wrangham that betrayed a mind all too eager to make huge assumptions... Read more
Published on February 20, 2011 by Carmi Turchick
4.0 out of 5 stars Readable and packed with useful information, with feminist Utopian...
So many "scientific" books about people written for a general audience turn out to be ideological propaganda with a sprinkle of "science. Read more
Published on February 11, 2011 by Jack Donovan
5.0 out of 5 stars A celebration of evolution, if you really think about it
This book describes behaviors that appear in most mammalian species- dominance hierarchies, sexual rivalry, threat displays, alliance building, and violence toward males, females... Read more
Published on February 3, 2011 by Loretta G. Breuning
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Review of Ape Literature
This book may change your mind about your friends and family. It is not user friendly but rather a wake up call. If we are better it is time to prove it.
Published on October 7, 2010 by Songplayerman
3.0 out of 5 stars Good book for feminists & self-hating males
Don't get me wrong. There is some interesting information in this book, but I didn't like the authors' slant. Read more
Published on May 8, 2010 by P.K. Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars A thirst-quenching (for me) summary of what's known.
For those with a curiosity about what is really biological in our behavior, this book is very satisfying. Read more
Published on January 30, 2010 by Jennifer M. Lynn
4.0 out of 5 stars Y-chromosome: bad
This one provides a quasi-sociobiological and evolutionary historical look at why people are so fond of raping and murdering each other. Read more
Published on November 16, 2006 by Scott C. Locklin
5.0 out of 5 stars A depressing but very important work
I read this book several years ago but I find myself constantly referring to it in conversations about politics and global events. Read more
Published on July 8, 2004 by E. Karasik
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