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Description
“[A] magisterial survey of childbearing through the ages . . . It wams the heart to witness the fierce loyalty this sophisticated feminist professor of anthropology . . . bears towards her paleolithic sisters.”—San Francisco Chronicle
Maternal instinct—the all-consuming, utterly selfless love that mothers lavish on their children—has long been assumed to be an innate, indeed defining element of a woman’s nature. But is it? In this provocative, groundbreaking book, renowned anthropologist (and mother) Sarah Blaffer Hrdy shares a radical new vision of motherhood and its crucial role in human evolution.
Hrdy strips away stereotypes and gender-biased myths to demonstrate that traditional views of maternal behavior are essentially wishful thinking codified as objective observation. As Hrdy argues, far from being “selfless,” successful primate mothers have always combined nurturing with ambition, mother love with sexual love, ambivalence with devotion. In fact all mothers, in the struggle to guarantee both their own survival and that of their offspring, deal nimbly with competing demands and conflicting strategies.
In her nuanced, stunningly original interpretation of the relationships between mothers and fathers, mothers and babies, and mothers and their social groups, Hrdy offers not only a revolutionary new meaning to motherhood but an important new understanding of human evolution. Written with grace and clarity, suffused with the wisdom of a long and distinguished career, Mother Nature is a profound contribution to our understanding of who we are as a species—and why we have become this way.
Maternal instinct—the all-consuming, utterly selfless love that mothers lavish on their children—has long been assumed to be an innate, indeed defining element of a woman’s nature. But is it? In this provocative, groundbreaking book, renowned anthropologist (and mother) Sarah Blaffer Hrdy shares a radical new vision of motherhood and its crucial role in human evolution.
Hrdy strips away stereotypes and gender-biased myths to demonstrate that traditional views of maternal behavior are essentially wishful thinking codified as objective observation. As Hrdy argues, far from being “selfless,” successful primate mothers have always combined nurturing with ambition, mother love with sexual love, ambivalence with devotion. In fact all mothers, in the struggle to guarantee both their own survival and that of their offspring, deal nimbly with competing demands and conflicting strategies.
In her nuanced, stunningly original interpretation of the relationships between mothers and fathers, mothers and babies, and mothers and their social groups, Hrdy offers not only a revolutionary new meaning to motherhood but an important new understanding of human evolution. Written with grace and clarity, suffused with the wisdom of a long and distinguished career, Mother Nature is a profound contribution to our understanding of who we are as a species—and why we have become this way.
Product Details
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
| Publish Date | September 05, 2000 |
| Pages | 768 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780345408938 |
| Dimensions | 9.2 X 6.1 X 1.3 inches | 1.6 pounds |
About the Author
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy is an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California at Davis and a fellow of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The author of three previous books, including The Woman That Never Evolved, she lives in Northern California.
Reviews
“This book is a major contribution to the evolutionary biology of our species. By including some of her own intellectual and personal biography and attending to the history of ideas, Hrdy makes it also a contribution to the history and sociology of science. Anyone who thinks that working mothers and variable family arrangements are an unnatural recent novelty should read this book. Anyone interested in the causes (and consequences) of variation in women's behaviour, human sexuality or human evolution must read this book. It is superb human behavioral ecology.”—Kristen Hawkes, Nature
“The skillful prose of virtuosos like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould belies the difficulty of the art. For the most part Hrdy succeeds admirably. Her style is engaging and entertaining . . . This is not just a book for mothers but one that will challenge and stimulate anyone interested in the relationship between parents and children.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Thorough, thoughtful, and clearly written . . . a trove of factual treasures . . . a cornucopia of data and ideas about the biology and behavior of mothers great and small.”—Scientific American
“This is a splendidly thought-provoking book which will undoubtedly establish its author as the alpha-female of evolutionary thinkers. With one great stride Blaffer Hrdy has carried the debate about parenting to a higher stage of adaptation. It should be required reading for parents, feminists and evolutionary thinkers alike.”—The Independent
“Beautifully and accessibly written, it is the product of a woman who, before going into science, had considered becoming a novelist.”—Natalie Angier, The New York Times
“Magnificent . . . Hrdy’s book resides in that rare space between academic disciplines [and] enables her to combine the best of Darwinian evolutionary biology with feminist cultural theory, without falling into the political entrapments of either camp.”—Kathleen O’Grady, The Globe and Mail
“Hrdy does not look at humans in isolation, but at the wider sweep of evolutionary processes. She does not look at women in isolation, but at the co-operations and conflicts, the adjustments and compromises, that all humans must make, and at the evolutionary pressures that they bring to bear on each other . . . the range of her scholarship is both impressive and meticulous. She has emphasized a neglected area of evolutionary theorizing.”—The Times Literary Supplement
“[A] pure pleasure to read. Buy it. Assign it. Give it to your congressman. This is a book that can make a difference.”—Elizabeth Cashdan, Evolution and Human Behavior
“A truly monumental work, as elegant as it is insightful . . . a clear and telling examination of a hitherto almost unknown organism: the human female.”—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs
“A brilliant, liberating book on a profoundly important subject by one of the best stylists now writing on any subject in science.”—E. O. Wilson, author of Consilience
“The skillful prose of virtuosos like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould belies the difficulty of the art. For the most part Hrdy succeeds admirably. Her style is engaging and entertaining . . . This is not just a book for mothers but one that will challenge and stimulate anyone interested in the relationship between parents and children.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Thorough, thoughtful, and clearly written . . . a trove of factual treasures . . . a cornucopia of data and ideas about the biology and behavior of mothers great and small.”—Scientific American
“This is a splendidly thought-provoking book which will undoubtedly establish its author as the alpha-female of evolutionary thinkers. With one great stride Blaffer Hrdy has carried the debate about parenting to a higher stage of adaptation. It should be required reading for parents, feminists and evolutionary thinkers alike.”—The Independent
“Beautifully and accessibly written, it is the product of a woman who, before going into science, had considered becoming a novelist.”—Natalie Angier, The New York Times
“Magnificent . . . Hrdy’s book resides in that rare space between academic disciplines [and] enables her to combine the best of Darwinian evolutionary biology with feminist cultural theory, without falling into the political entrapments of either camp.”—Kathleen O’Grady, The Globe and Mail
“Hrdy does not look at humans in isolation, but at the wider sweep of evolutionary processes. She does not look at women in isolation, but at the co-operations and conflicts, the adjustments and compromises, that all humans must make, and at the evolutionary pressures that they bring to bear on each other . . . the range of her scholarship is both impressive and meticulous. She has emphasized a neglected area of evolutionary theorizing.”—The Times Literary Supplement
“[A] pure pleasure to read. Buy it. Assign it. Give it to your congressman. This is a book that can make a difference.”—Elizabeth Cashdan, Evolution and Human Behavior
“A truly monumental work, as elegant as it is insightful . . . a clear and telling examination of a hitherto almost unknown organism: the human female.”—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs
“A brilliant, liberating book on a profoundly important subject by one of the best stylists now writing on any subject in science.”—E. O. Wilson, author of Consilience
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