Cannibals and Kings: Origins of Cultures

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. “[A] magisterial interpretation of the rise and fall of human cultures and societies.” — Robert Lekachman, Washington Post Book World “Its persuasive arguments asserting the primacy of cultural rather than genetic or psychological factors in human life deserve the widest possible audience.” — Gloria Levitas The New Leader “[An] original and…urgent theory about the nature of man and at the reason that human cultures take so many diverse shapes.” — The New Yorker “Lively and controversial.” — I. Bernard Cohen, front page, The New York Times Book Review

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