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Author | Paul A. Colinvaux |
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Language | English |
Subject | Social evolution, history of civilization, ethnology, human effects on the environment, cultural diffusion, military history, human ecology, niche(ecology) |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | August 18, 1980 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Hardcover, Paperback |
Pages | 383 pages |
ISBN | 0-671-25204-6 |
OCLC | 6143975 |
901 | |
LC Class | D16.9 .C597 |
The Fates of Nations: A Biological Theory of History is a 1980 book by Paul Colinvaux, professor of ecology at Ohio State University.
The book is a theory of history from an ecologist's perspective, arguing that the fundamental structure and constraints of human breeding habits can explain much of the ebb and flow of human history. Published 17 years before Guns, Germs, and Steel (and now out of print), it is broader in scope and more politically incorrect, dealing with and explaining such issues as the prevalence of infanticide throughout human history, and the rise of religion. Some major points:
The squirrel is highly tuned to a very specialized profession. It cannot change its way of life. Squirrels, therefore, live only in times and places suited to the squirrel way of life, to the squirrel niche. [It follows that] the numbers of any kind of squirrel that may live are fixed. [1]
![]() | |
Author | Paul A. Colinvaux |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Social evolution, history of civilization, ethnology, human effects on the environment, cultural diffusion, military history, human ecology, niche(ecology) |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | August 18, 1980 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Hardcover, Paperback |
Pages | 383 pages |
ISBN | 0-671-25204-6 |
OCLC | 6143975 |
901 | |
LC Class | D16.9 .C597 |
The Fates of Nations: A Biological Theory of History is a 1980 book by Paul Colinvaux, professor of ecology at Ohio State University.
The book is a theory of history from an ecologist's perspective, arguing that the fundamental structure and constraints of human breeding habits can explain much of the ebb and flow of human history. Published 17 years before Guns, Germs, and Steel (and now out of print), it is broader in scope and more politically incorrect, dealing with and explaining such issues as the prevalence of infanticide throughout human history, and the rise of religion. Some major points:
The squirrel is highly tuned to a very specialized profession. It cannot change its way of life. Squirrels, therefore, live only in times and places suited to the squirrel way of life, to the squirrel niche. [It follows that] the numbers of any kind of squirrel that may live are fixed. [1]