Cannibals and Kings - the origins of culture

Contents

By Marvin Harris
Published by Fontana/Collins, 1977, small paperback

As significant a book for the study of cultural development as Darwin's 'Origin's of the species' was for biological evolution

Since time began, amn has been threatened by growing populations and dimishing resources. In response, he has created idiosyncratic cultures whose form and customs can - to the outsider - seem incomprehensible. In fascinating and at times bizarre detail a distinguished American anthropologist traces the evolution of cultures in terms not of traditionally accepted notions of the inexorable marhc of material progress but rather of man's supremely rational survival tactics and adaptability in a world which ever threatens him with extinction.