Darwin's Legacy: Scenarios in Human Evolution

(Paperback)

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DarwinOs Legacy: Scenarios in Human Evolution compares ideas about human evolution Darwin published in The Descent of Man in 1891 to 30 scenarios about the evolution of such unique human characteristics as bipedalism, hairless skin, secondary sex characters, language and culture that anthropologists and psychologists published between 1950 and 2006. It evaluates ideas about hunting and scavenging, aimed throwing, primitive warfare, aquatic life, courtship, and sign language in light of modern data on genetics, stone tools, fossils, and primate behavior. Parallels between DarwinOs ideas and those of modern researchers are striking.

Reviews

Sue Taylor Parker and Karin Enstam Jaffe have given us a lively and illuminating history of how scholars have interpreted the many 'no-longer-missing links' that have been discovered since Darwin's day. A contentious dialogue of competing views on the origins of language, bipedalism, sociality, cognition, and culture, Darwin's Legacy provides a much-needed overview of what we think we know about how we got here. -- Richard Milner, author of The Encyclopedia of Evolution
There are almost countless books on human evolution, but Parker and Jaffe have provided a valuable service to the broad field of human evolutionary studies by producing this one. The extensive references are up-to-date and by themselves worth the price of the book. A great introduction for advanced undergraduate and graduate students into the complex and controversial field of human evolution. Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *
Darwin's Legacy provides carefully synthesized explanations, grounded in currently available evidence, for the evolution of uniquely human traits. Parker and Jaffe's articulate conclusions are highly satisfying. If we could all elegantly explain and digest ideas the way that Parker and Jaffe do, we would all get top teaching evaluations and the field of biological anthropology would gain in popularity, not to mention grant funding. * American Journal Of Physical Anthropology *
[The] book is generally complete and very well referenced, allowing readers to track down easily more complete discussions or arguments and counterarguments. . . . it will be useful, as the authors hope, as a book to be used in a seminar on the history of ideas of human origins. * Reports Of The National Center For Science Education *
Well-told stories are fun to read. When they are laced with up-to-date factual detail, these stories become a natural source of learning. Mastering the details of the scientific study of human origins is a daunting task, but the approach here makes it both delightful and rewarding. Darwin's Legacy: Scenarios in Human Evolution is an accurate, thorough, and beautifully written account of human evolution. -- Henry M. McHenry, University of California, Davis
Darwin's Legacy provides carefully synthesized explanations, grounded in currently available evidence, for the evolution of uniquely human traits. Parker and Jaffe's articulate conclusions are highly satisfying. If we could all elegantly explain and digest ideas the way that Parker and Jaffe do, we would all get top teaching evaluations and the field of biological anthropology would gain in popularity, not to mention grant funding. * American Journal Of Physical Anthropology *

Author Bio

Sue Taylor Parker is emeritus professor of anthropology at Sonoma State University. Karin Enstam Jaffe is associate professor of anthropology at Sonoma State University.