Still Starving After All These Years : The Hidden Origins of War, Oppression and Inequality

Do you want an end to war and inequality? Civilizations the world over have produced spectacular innovations; monumental architecture, complex mathematics, magnificent art, and the invention of writing, to name a few. Civilizations have also produced several unsavory "innovations", which to the modern mind seem an inevitable part of living in civilized society. Large-scale architecture was invented to store hoarded food and other goods, produced by the enslaved masses but enjoyed by the powerful elite. Writing was invented to keep track of hoarded commodities. Institutionalized warfare was invented to steal slaves, who could produce more for the monumental storage containers. A striking parallel with today's governments' violent obsessions over endless growth. This prevailing mindset can and must be undone or else we risk the annihilation of humanity. Surprise! Contrary to what you might think, war and social snobbery arent baked into human society they began far back in our species distant past. And before that, we humans werent constantly clobbering our neighbors over the head to steal land, tin mines, and oil fields. Slavery was nowhere to be found, and people looked around and saw others in roughly the same light: as valuable as the next guy. In those days, no one was putting on airs. Now I know you might have heard otherwise. For years social scientists have assumed we humans were born bad, biologically prone to beating each other up, and very likely to be caught dragging women around by the hair. Even now some popular authors Steven Pinker and Jared Diamond come to mind are still singing the same, tired old song: humans are born red in tooth and claw, and theres nothing we can do about it, no way to dig warfare or social inequality out of our towns, cities and countries. But Pinker and Diamond arent archaeologists or anthropologists the people tasked with studying our distant past. And a growing number of archaeologists and anthropologists are beginning to agree: humans arent born violent and snobbish. We have to be taught such. And before a certain date in history we werent taught such. If youd be happy to see an end to war, social snobbery, poverty and many of the other things most of us hate about ourselves, youll probably want to read this book. When did war begin? Why? Where? How did the boom fall on the collective heads of our human brothers and sisters? The thing is, if war and the other unmentionables had a beginning, if they arent baked into our biology, then we should be able to drive them away, right? But to do this, dont we need to understand how they arose in the first place? I think we do. I think this is key. Because it contains answers to the questions above, I hope you read this book. I think its one of the most important youll read this year. Do you want an end to war and inequality? Listen to your starving ancestors for clues to a solution.