Synopses & Reviews
and#8220;One of historyand#8217;s greatest anthropologistsand#8212;and a rip-roaring storytellerand#8212;recounts his life with an endangered Amazonian tribe and the mind-boggling controversies his work ignitedand#8221; (Steven Pinker, author of andlt;Iandgt;The Better Angels of Our Natureandlt;/Iandgt;).andlt;brandgt;andlt;brandgt;When Napoleon Chagnon arrived in Venezuelaand#8217;s Amazon region in 1964 to study the Yanomamand#246; Indians, one of the last large tribal groups still living in isolation, he discovered a remarkably violent society. Men who killed others had the most wives and offspring, their violence possibly giving them an evolutionary advantage. The prime reasons for violence, Chagnon found, were to avenge deaths and abduct women.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;When Chagnon began publishing his observations, some cultural anthropologists who could not accept an evolutionary basis for human behavior refused to believe them. A scathing attackand#8212;which was quickly disprovenand#8212;accused him of starting a measles epidemic among the Yanomamand#246;, and the American Anthropological Association condemned him, only to rescind its condemnation after a vote by the membership. Thus Chagnon became perhaps the most famous American anthropologist since Margaret Meadand#8212;and the most controversial.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;In andlt;Iandgt;Noble Savagesandlt;/Iandgt;, Chagnon describes his seminal fieldworkand#8212;during which he lived among the Yanomamand#246;, was threatened by tyrannical headmen, and experienced an uncomfortably close encounter with a jaguarand#8212;taking readers inside Yanomamand#246; villages to glimpse the kind of life our distant ancestors may have lived thousands of years ago. And he forcefully indicts his discipline of cultural anthropology, accusing it of having traded its scientific mission for political activism.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Praised as and#8220;a beautifully written adventure storyand#8221; (andlt;Iandgt;The New York Timesandlt;/Iandgt;) and and#8220;one of the most interesting anthropology books I have ever readand#8221; (Charles C. Mann, andlt;Iandgt;The Wall Street Journalandlt;/Iandgt;), andlt;Iandgt;Noble Savagesandlt;/Iandgt; is an important and timely scientific memoir that raises fundamental questions about human nature itself.
Review
and#8220;One of historyand#8217;s greatest anthropologistsand#8212;and a rip-roaring story-tellerand#8212;recounts his life with an endangered Amazonian tribe and the mind-boggling controversies his work ignited. andlt;iandgt;Noble Savagesandlt;/iandgt; is rich with insights into human nature, and an entertaining interlude with a remarkable man.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;andlt;iandgt;Noble Savagesandlt;/iandgt; is an epicand#8212;not only of one of the most extraordinary physical and intellectual adventures ever experienced by a major scientist, but also the history of one of the most significant events in the early, often turbulent meeting between evolutionary biology and the social sciences."
Review
andlt;divandgt;"Very few people have led lives as fascinating as Napoleon Chagnon's, or have lived among people as dangerous as the Yanomamö, and fewer still have his courage or his honor.
Review
and#8220;Very few people have led lives as fascinating as Napoleon Chagnonand#8217;s, or have lived among people as dangerous as the Yanomamand#246;, and fewer still have his courage or his honor. andlt;iandgt;Noble Savages andlt;/iandgt;is a page-turning masterpiece. You donand#8217;t need to know anything about anthropology to read it. By the time you finish, youand#8217;ll know a lot."
Synopsis
"One of history's greatest anthropologists--and a rip-roaring storyteller--recounts his life with an endangered Amazonian tribe and the mind-boggling controversies his work ignited" (Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature).
Napoleon Chagnon's Noble Savages is the remarkable memoir of a life dedicated to science--and a revealing account of the clash between science and political activism.
When Napoleon Chagnon arrived in Venezuela's Amazon region in 1964 to study the Yanomamo Indians, he expected to find Rousseau's "noble savage." Instead he found a shockingly violent society. He spent years living among the Yanomamo, observing their often tyrannical headmen, learning to survive under primitive and dangerous conditions. When he published his observations, a firestorm of controversy swept through anthropology departments. Chagnon was vilified by other anthropologists, condemned by his professional association (which subsequently rescinded its reprimand), and ultimately forced to give up his fieldwork. Throughout his ordeal, he never wavered in his defense of science. In 2012 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Synopsis
Napoleon Chagnonand#8217;s andlt;I andgt;Noble Savagesandlt;/Iandgt; is the remarkable memoir of a life dedicated to scienceand#8212;and a revealing account of the clash between science and political activism.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;When Napoleon Chagnon arrived in Venezuelaand#8217;s Amazon region in 1964 to study the Yanomamand#246; Indians, he expected to find Rousseauand#8217;s and#8220;noble savage.and#8221; Instead he found a shockingly violent society. He spent years living among the Yanomamand#246;, observing their often tyrannical headmen, learning to survive under primitive and dangerous conditions. When he published his observations, a firestorm of controversy swept through anthropology departments. Chagnon was vilified by other anthropologists, condemned by his professional association (which subsequently rescinded its reprimand), and ultimately forced to give up his fieldwork. Throughout his ordeal, he never wavered in his defense of science. In 2012 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
About the Author
Napoleon A. Chagnon is distinguished research professor at the University of Missouri and adjunct research scientist at the University of Michigan, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He formerly taught at the University of California-Santa Barbara, Penn State, Northwestern, and the University of Michigan. He is the author of five previous academic books and lives in Columbia, Missouri.