Why Men?: A Human History of Violence and Inequality

War and inequality are not inevitable because of evolution, but rather a result of invented ideas of difference and privileges that have caused female, queer, and minority suffering. "Why Men?" tells a smarter story of humanity, revealing that humans adapted to live equally, but early class societies suppressed this with invented ideas of difference.

Format: Hardback
Length: 440 pages
Publication date: 28 September 2023
Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd

Are war and inequality inevitable, because evolution made men competitive and dominant? Think again with this entertaining yet powerful new history of ‘true human nature. How did humans, a species that evolved to be cooperative and egalitarian, develop societies of enforced inequality? Why did our ancestors create patriarchal power and warfare? Did it have to be this way? Elites have always called hierarchy and violence unavoidable facts of human nature. Evolution, they claim, has caused men to fight, and people—starting with men and women—to have separate, unequal roles. But that is bad science. Why Men? tells a smarter story of humanity, from early behaviors to contemporary cultures. From bonobo sex and prehistoric childcare to human sacrifice, Joan of Arc, Darwinism, and Abu Ghraib, this fascinating, fun, and important book reveals that humans adapted to live equally, yet the earliest class societies suppressed this with invented ideas of difference. Ever since, these distortions have caused female, queer, and minority suffering. But our deeply human instincts towards equality have endured. This book is not about what men and women are or do. Its about the privileges humans claim, how they rationalize them, and how we unpick those ideas about our roots. It will change how you see injustice, violence, and even yourself.

Weight: 846g
Dimension: 240 x 166 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781805260165