Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewIn what may be his boldest and most controversial book, Paul Shepard presents an account of human behavior and ecology in light of our past. In it, he contends that agriculture is responsible for our ecological decline and looks to the hunting and gathering lifestyle as a model more closely in tune with our essential nature. Shepard advocates affirming the profound and beautiful nature of the hunter and gatherer, redefining agriculture and combining technology with hunting and gathering to recover a livable environment and peaceful society. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Paul Shepard , George SessionsPublisher: University of Georgia Press Imprint: University of Georgia Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.459kg ISBN: 9780820319810ISBN 10: 0820319813 Pages: 336 Publication Date: 30 April 1998 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsPaul Shepard [is] an exceptionally clear thinker who is also a lucid and exhilarating writer. . . . His work is valuable but very urgent, shining in the sun like the tip of the vast iceberg of knowlege and reflection that supports it. --Peter Matthiessen Paul Shepard [is] an exceptionally clear thinker who is also a lucid and exhilarating writer. . . . His work is valuable but very urgent, shining in the sun like the tip of the vast iceberg of knowlege and reflection that supports it. --Peter Matthiessen Paul Shepard [is] an exceptionally clear thinker who is also a lucid and exhilarating writer. . . . His work is valuable but very urgent, shining in the sun like the tip of the vast iceberg of knowlege and reflection that supports it. --Peter Matthiessen Paul Shepard [is] an exceptionally clear thinker who is also a lucid and exhilarating writer. . . . His work is valuable but very urgent, shining in the sun like the tip of the vast iceberg of knowlege and reflection that supports it.--Peter Matthiessen Shepard's scattering of both familiar theory and wild surmise about the hunter-gatherers of the Pleistocene period (with contemporary implications) is bound to be ambushed by more rigorous scholars; however, for the lenient layman, this attempt to set mankind on the right path again is, if nothing else, a stimulating entertainment. He investigates the ruinous effects of domestication - on plants, animals and man, particularly the farmer/peasant societies from the Sumerians on - arguing that our true nature and abilities, most completely expressed in the days of the hunter-gatherers, have been stultified. After a brief portrait of higher primate communities, Shepard sketches the good life of the early hunters - leisured, generous, hospitable small groups centered on the hunt, where killing (for meat) was not extermination, where sex roles were coequal, where change beyond satisfaction of basic needs was not welcomed, where the old were respected, and where action evolved by group consent. The author traces biohistorical rituals and behavior patterns of each stage in individual (and group) life cycles, and concludes that fulfillment (from stage to stage) is not occurring today. Shephard's utopia: freeing of land via microbe-culture (food); freeing of animals; concentrated populations; revamping of education emphasizing the interrelationships of things rather than ideas (words), etc. Certainly Shepard's view that man's biological programming has been clanking out the same tune since the Ice Age is controversial and his idealization of hunter culture is suspect. But this is still - if you have the patience - as much fun as a barrel of Naked Apes. (Kirkus Reviews) Author InformationPaul Shepard (1925-1996) was Avery Professor of Natural Philosophy and Human Ecology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He is the author of twelve books, a number of which are available from the University of Georgia Press. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
