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Book Review
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Volume 336:968-969 March 27, 1997 Number 13
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Demonic Males: Apes and the origins of human violence

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By Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson. 350 pp. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1996. $24.95. ISBN 0-395-69001-3.

Demonic Males is a fascinating account that draws on data ranging from observations of apes (the authors' main interest) to findings of human paleontology, molecular biology, and ancient history, and even modern fiction. Its thesis is that in our species men act violently and make war because of temperaments inherited from chimpanzee-like ancestors. The book races on and is easy to read. Nevertheless, it is scholarly. The evidence in support of opposing arguments is presented, and full documentation is unobtrusively supplied. However, without reading critically, one may be overly impressed by the initial broad statements. The publisher has detracted . . . [Full Text of this Article]




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