Robert Ardrey (1) (1908–1980)

In 1955 on a visit to South Africa, Robert Ardrey became aware of the growing evidence that man had evolved on the African continent from carnivorous, predatory stock, who had also, long before man, achieved the use of weapons. A dramatist, Ardrey's interest in the African discoveries sprang less from purely scientific grounds than from the radical new light they cast on the eternal question: Why do we behave as we do? Are we naturally inclined towards war and weapons? From 1955 to 1961, show more Ardrey commuted between the museums and libraries and laboratories of the North, and the games reserves and fossil beds of Africa trying to answer that question. Eventually, his investigation expanded to include nationalism and patriotism, private property and social order, hierarchy and status-seeking, even conscience. All revealed roots in our most ancient animal beginnings and parallels in primate societies. African Genesis is at once the story of an unprecedented personal search and a story of man that had never before been told. It is a shocking book in that it challenges assumptions of human uniqueness that color every segment of modern thought and every aspect of our daily life. While evolutionary science has advanced markedly since Ardrey's times, his insights on human behavior have a timeless quality and African Genesis remains a classic reference for anyone exploring life's biggest questions. Praise for the 1961 edition: "It is fate and fortune of some books to mark or make a turning point in science and culture. This I believe African Genesis will do." Dr Harlow Shapley, Harvard University "The most enjoyable and stimulating book on the evolution of man that has been published for some time." The Nation "What this sensational book presents is a new and radical interpretation of human behavior. Since Ardrey has written it with excitement, clarity and style, the book will undoubtedly be widely read and cause widespread controversy. But African Genesis also deserves the most serious attention on the part of scientists as well as laymen." Dr Kenneth Oakley, Leading British Anthropologist, Senior Principal Scientific Officer, British Museum "Mr Ardrey's African Genesis is a fascinating drama played on a very broad and deep stage of space, time, biological evolution and ideas. The theme develops around man's striving to collect evidence and to understand the relational orders and timed sequences of living organisms. The search is for rational light on the true place of man himself in these biotic orders, and in the vast sweeps of the controlling environments. In this high drama the characters enter, leave relics and artifacts, act their roles as species, express their views and then exit. Among the characters are men of prehistory, nonhuman primates and the searching scientists themselves. The latter quarrel and dispute, ooperate and agree, strive for status and retreat from controversy. They are 'humans' as portrayed skillfully by Ardrey. Nevertheless, they contribute to the slowly advancing understanding of man in his living world or to what Ardrey describes as a revolution of biological conceptions." C. R. Carpenter, Penn State University "This quarrel about the innate nature of man began outside the gates of Eden, was continued by Darwin and Wallace and now looms menacingly across the threshold of the United Nations. Mr. Ardrey has peered into our inner human darkness with wisdom gained from discoveries of natural history." Loren Eiseley, Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and History of Science, University of Pennsylvania Source: Publisher (Story Design Limited, 2014 edition (ISBN 9780988604308) show less

When I was in college, our Professors challenged our idealism and assumptions by exposing us to uncomfortable facts, of all sorts. For example, Darwin's views of Race, and Marx’s view that human history is part of natural history. And animal ethnologists and modern mechanical materialists who claimed that we are simply “naked apes”, often implying that the faults of society can be blamed on our genes, our inherited animal make up. Robert Ardrey was one of these authors. For example, in show more African Genesis, he gives an account of human origins:

"Hierarchy is an institution among all social animals and the drive to dominate one’s fellows an instinct three or four million years old ... The human drive to acquire possessions is the simple expression of an animal instinct many hundreds of years older than the human race itself ... The roots of nationalism are dug firmly in the social territory of almost every species of our related primate family ... Status seekers are responding to animal instincts equally characteristic of baboons, jackdaws, rock cod and men."

Ardrey was quite prescient. His description of our primate legacy is a remarkable profile of a certain bankrupt casino owner who borrowed millions of dollars from President Putin and led a world charge against republics and democracy. Who knew that jackdaws would garner significant political support? show less

I can do no better than to quote Robert Ardrey's powerful, eloquent perspective: "Humans were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres however frequently they may be turned into battlefields. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk, but how magnificently he has show more risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses." show less

I very much enjoyed this book when I was younger. It was good, interesting, innovative, and a fine summary of what we knew at that time. Ardrey supports both the warlike nature of man and ancestry among the gracile austraopithecenes. The latter is now out of favour, but the writing is still good and the author gives a good history of the personalities and fossils behind the hunt for humankind's ancestors. For a book that is 45 years old this holds up remarkably well.