I’m an anthropologist and writer who has published more than fifty books, ranging from novels and essays to academic monographs and textbooks. I am passionate about trying to make the world a slightly better place, and I am convinced that we need to think differently about the good life and the economy in order to get out of the corner we’ve painted ourselves into. Economic anthropology offers alternative perspectives on the world and the human condition. It's far less obscure than it sounds.
Building on Mauss, Polanyi, and others, Sahlins described, in 1972, societies without money, without states or formal power, but which nevertheless did well. The most famous essay in the book is titled, appropriately, "The Original Affluent Society" and describes the lives of hunter and gatherers before they were overrun by farmers and armies. Very thought-provoking. Sometimes, less is more.
Since its first publication over forty years ago Marshall Sahlins's Stone Age Economics has established itself as a classic of modern anthropology and arguably one of the founding works of anthropological economics. Ambitiously tackling the nature of economic life and how to study it comparatively, Sahlins radically revises traditional views of the hunter-gatherer and so-called primitive societies, revealing them to be the original "affluent society."
Sahlins examines notions of production, distribution and exchange in early communities and examines the link between economics and cultural and social factors. A radical study of tribal economies, domestic production for livelihood, and of the…
I became intrigued by Upper Paleolithic societies when I studied prehistory at the University of Bordeaux. Over time, I became more and more involved in trying to understand why some Upper Paleolithic societies produced such great art – both painted and carved. After years of studying hunter-gatherer cultures, I concluded that the Upper Paleolithic groups producing fine art were not simple egalitarian groups, but were almost certainly more complex types of hunter-gatherers like the ethnographic groups in California and the Northwest Coast with striking economic and social inequalities – and great art. I decided to put all these ideas into an adventure novel for young readers: The Eyes of the Leopard.
This is a bit more of a technical archaeology book dealing with the archaeological interpretation of prehistoric cave use, but focusing on the Grotta di Porto Badisco and its Upper Paleolithic use by secret societies (in Whitehouse's interpretation). But it ranges far wider, looking at related finds from other areas and times in Upper Paleolithic Europe. Ruth Whitehouse places the use of this cave and others in their ritual and prehistoric contexts, but also examines their social, psychological, and even structuralist relationships. It is a unique and important publication from these perspectives and has been very influential in my own publications.
I started researching the way the West’s intelligence services manipulated the public when I was a student in the mid-1970s. I then became an investigative journalist and often returned to the subject in different ways, especially as a national security correspondent. I fully acknowledge the massive manipulation by the Communist Bloc during the Cold War but believe that it is important the public is aware of the manipulation that the West’s Cold Warriors utilized is fully known and recognized as it has left a legacy that has allowed for the rise of ‘fake news’.
Kaplan’s book captured the mindset of the Cold Warriors and how the concept of a nuclear holocaust became accepted. Brilliantly researched and written with a dispassionate eye, it remains one of the most insightful accounts of the nuclear weapons race and how it was exploited by the military to build their own empires. It was a great influence on my film Baiting the Bear about General Curtis 'Bomb them back to the Stone Age’ Lemay that I made for BBC's Timewatch in 1996. I haven’t yet read Kaplan’s latest book, The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War, which looks like a development of Wizards with new declassified material.
This is the untold story of the small group of men who have devised the plans and shaped the policies on how to use the Bomb. The book (first published in 1983) explores the secret world of these strategists of the nuclear age and brings to light a chapter in American political and military history never before revealed.
I have always loved writing and drawing, so the perfect combination of these two passions is creating picture books. I began my career as a nonfiction book editor, writing texts for illustrated children’s books. I soon became a freelance writer and have never looked back. I love writing on many subjects for readers from kindergarten to high school—but my favorite is writing narrative non-fiction picture books. I get a kick out of finding just the right story to communicate tricky information so the reader has fun while they learn. This is the best way to discover amazing truths about our incredible world.
I am a big fan of this imaginative, time-traveling picture book, which transports the young reader back to prehistoric times. The Stone Age is not always the most accessible subject for little ones, but there is nothing dry about the bones seen here.
The story is told in a fun, relatable text, with expressive language perfect for reading aloud—‘Water dripping! The wind moaning!’ etc. Supporting explanations are added in italic text, which I found fascinating. Direct invitations immediately grab attention, such as ‘Make tricky traps and track wild animals. An ambush…Shhh!’
I love how the language and illustrations complement each other perfectly in this little gem of a book, which is both immersive and hugely informative. I would definitely recommend it!
Travel back in time for an amazing stone age adventure! Learn to shape flints, carve bones and tickle trout; join in a mammoth hunt and wild dances in flickering torchlight. Discover for yourself just how clever our stone age ancestors were! Includes notes and activities to support the new primary curriculum.
The Wonderwise series presents facts in a way that will inspire young children's imaginations about the world around them. Wonderwise is an award-winning series of information books, perfect for introducing younger children to non-fiction.
I’m a Canadian children’s author who is curious about people, places, and history. There is always something new to discover. I am an introvert by nature but I love travelling the world through the pages of books. By exploring the world (in real life or through reading) we learn about survival, struggle, and overcoming obstacles. We might just get inspired to make a greater contribution to our world.
Bite-sized bits of world knowledge are a great way to explore the world from the comfort of your own living room (or car or classroom). Visuals and a timeline help kids navigate history, discoveries, wars, revolutions, and inventions. This is the type of book kids can pick up and put down anytime. It also adds to general knowledge and builds great ideas for family trivia night!
Get to grips with history like never before as you travel through the ages in this history encyclopedia for children that stretches from prehistoric times to modern day.
Introducing an updated volume of History Year by Year - a timeline of world history that joins the dots of history by putting key historic events across the world on one timeline for children, including everything from prehistoric people, to world wars, humans on the moon, and so much more! Every page is jam-packed pictures and original artefacts, to give children an accurate insight into each era. Including features that explain major…
I became intrigued by Upper Paleolithic societies when I studied prehistory at the University of Bordeaux. Over time, I became more and more involved in trying to understand why some Upper Paleolithic societies produced such great art – both painted and carved. After years of studying hunter-gatherer cultures, I concluded that the Upper Paleolithic groups producing fine art were not simple egalitarian groups, but were almost certainly more complex types of hunter-gatherers like the ethnographic groups in California and the Northwest Coast with striking economic and social inequalities – and great art. I decided to put all these ideas into an adventure novel for young readers: The Eyes of the Leopard.
Les Hommes aux Temps de Lascauxis in French, but it is the best, most comprehensive summary of the things we know about life in the Upper Paleolithic, from about 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. It covers all the basics (physical types, chronology, stone and bone tools, hunting-fishing, and plant foods) without delving into the minutiae that would only interest specialists. Beaune also deals with the arts, clothing and adornments, games, feasts, music, use of caves, funeral practices, and other interesting aspects of society. A newer version has just appeared, but is also only available in French; the title is Préhistoire Intime: Vive dans la Peau des Homo Sapiens.
L'image classique de l'homme paléolithique, misérablement accoutré de haillons, condamné à pourchasser le gibier et fuyant au fond des grottes, a bien changé. Certes, l'homme de ces temps n'avait pas encore appris à domestiquer ni les plantes ni les animaux, mais il connaissait parfaitement son environnement et tirait parti de toutes ses ressources avec beaucoup d'intelligence. De plus, il suffit de se plonger dans l'univers de cavernes ornées telles que Lascaux, Niaux, ou encore la grotte Chauvet, récemment découverte en Ardèche, pour mesurer la richesse de l'imaginaire et des conceptions religieuses de ces grands chasseurs. Dans un style simple et…
I’ve always been driven by curiosity about other cultures. I grew up in Germany but became restless and studied in Italy before moving to the United States. Some of the texts I recommend here I discovered while working on the Norton Anthology of World Literature. When I began this work, I realized just how narrow my own education had been and spent the next several years reading world literature and world culture. Ever since, I’ve been on a mission to expand how culture is taught. This is why I became an academic: to excite students about world culture.
The Chauvet Cave in Southern France is a unique time capsule that gives us a glimpse into the imaginary world of humans living 30,000 years ago.
Dawn of Art is written by those who discovered the cave and recognized it as the earliest masterpiece of human-made art.
What I found most fascinating about the cave as described in this book is the fact that humans decorated it over a period of thousands of years, perhaps as many as two hundred generations.
This is a remarkable achievement of collective artmaking, with one generation passing down the required artistry to the next generation. It made me wonder whether we have lost the reverence for the past that our distant ancestors must have possessed.
An intriguing study of the early evolution of human artistic endeavors focuses on recent discoveries in the Chauvet cave, Stone Age paintings and engravings of animals that are more than thirty thousand years old. BOMC Div. Natural Science Main.
If you’re curious about the world, you can find secret doors that open onto sudden vistas. For me, exploring the lives and origins of the caracaras unveiled an astonishing story about life on Earth—and though the books in my list are mostly nonfiction, they all explore real worlds as absorbing as any fantasy.
Matthiessen is best known for The Snow Leopard, but I think this book, written fifteen years earlier, exceeds it. As part of an anthropological expedition to the highlands of New Guinea, he was among the first westerners to describe the lives of the indigenous Papuan farmers who lived there—and he dares to imagine them from the inside, with his trademark understated lyricism. It's an extraordinary book, full of beauty and drama, and though it isn’t a journey to the distant past, it often feels like it: this was a place where neighboring villages fought ritualized wars against one another every week or so. The last line alone is worth the price of admission.
A remarkable firsthand view of a lost culture in all its simplicity and violence by renowned writer Peter Matthiessen (1927 to 2014), author of the National Book Award–winning The Snow Leopard and the novel In Paradise.
In the Baliem Valley in central New Guinea live the Kurelu, a Stone Age tribe that survived into the twentieth century. Peter Matthiessen visited the Kurelu with the Harvard-Peabody Expedition in 1961 and wrote Under the Mountain Wall as an account not of the expedition, but of the great warrior Weaklekek, the swineherd Tukum, U-mue and his family, and the boy Weake, killed in…
I was an Eagle Scout selected for the 1964 North Pole expedition, graduate of MIT with both BS and MS degrees in Aero Astro – yes, a true MIT rocket scientist. I quickly took planning roles at the “bleeding edge” of technology: missiles, nuclear power, heart pumps, DNA sequencing, telemedicine… In every case, however, the organizations were plagued by incompetence and corruption. As an individual, I interacted with activist leaders in movements for: peace, climate, social justice, ending poverty, etc. Again, incompetence and corruption. Throughout, I dug for answers into the wisdom of the classics and emerging viewpoints. Finally. All that effort paid off. I found the “big picture”!
Unravelling the confusion of our time always begs the question, “how could such confusion happen with the greatness of human thinking?” Allman has a simple answer: maybe our notion about “modern intelligence” isn’t so obvious. His point is: biological evolution is extremely slow. The time from the stone age to now is extremely short on evolutionary scales. Instead of focusing just on modern marvels like jet planes, what if we first compare our image of a “stone age man,” with the thinking ability of “modern” miners during the 1849 California gold rush? Hmmm… not “all” that different. Then compare a current apartment designer with the designers of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 3,000 BC? Are modern brains actually going backward? This book will really challenge your “stone age” brain.
From Simon & Schuster, The Stone Age Present explores how evolution has shaped modern life—from sex, violence, and language to emotions, morals, and communities.
In this fascinating synthesis of the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and biology, William Allman shows us how our minds have evolved in response to challenges faced by our prehistoric ancestors, and reveals how our brains continue to harbor that legacy in the present day.
I have three lifelong passions, the first was reading, then writing, and then archaeology/history. To this end I studied and trained as an archaeologist before I sat down and decided to write stories set in the past as a way of bringing it to life. Of course, there had to be an adventure, a bit of a mystery, and a dash of magic to bring it all together. The books on my list are just a few of those that I have enjoyed reading during my hunt to get to know the past in intimate detail – on my own time travelling journey.
I have always admired people who can bring the past to life in a visual way and in this book, Victor Ambrose draws and paints the lives of people and places from the past.
The text is provided by Mick Aston, a well-known archaeologist of Time Team fame. Many of the places featured in this book were sites investigated by the Time Team. The book is full to the brim with excellent illustrations of places and perhaps importantly they are then peopled with interesting characters (for fans of Time Team, you may recognize a few faces).
This book makes it easy to travel back in time, to visualize what life may have been like for people way back when which is why I recommend it to any potential time travelers.
Since 1994, when the first "Time Team" program was broadcast, archaeology has been brought to life for millions of people by Victor Ambrus and Mick Aston. Victor has produced hundreds of sketches and drawings of archaeological sites and the lives of those who would have inhabited them. For the first time, his drawings of individual excavations have been brought together to provide a dramatic chronological survey of British history—from Stone Age to modern via the Romans, the Vikings, and more. Add to this Mick Aston's lively explanations and photographs, and you have an archaeological collaboration which is guaranteed to delight.
