Cannibals and Kings

In this brilliant and profound study the distinguished American anthropologist Marvin Harris shows how the endless varieties of cultural behavior -- often so puzzling at first glance -- can be explained as adaptations to particular ecological conditions. His aim is to account for the evolution of cultural forms as Darwin accounted for the evolution of biological forms: to show how cultures adopt their characteristic forms in response to changing ecological modes.<br><br>"[A] magisterial interpretation of the rise and fall of human cultures and societies."<br><br>-- Robert Lekachman, Washington Post Book World<br><br>"Its persuasive arguments asserting the primacy of cultural rather than genetic or psychological factors in human life deserve the widest possible audience."<br><br>-- Gloria Levitas The New Leader<br><br>"[An] original and...urgent theory about the nature of man and at the reason that human cultures take so many diverse shapes."<br><br>-- The New Yorker<br><br>"Lively and controversial."<br><br>-- I. Bernard Cohen, front page, The New York Times Book Review