Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World - Softcover

Whitehouse, Harvey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1529159156 ISBN 13: 9781529159158

Publisher: Penguin, 2025

Synopsis

‘Insightful and breathtaking’ YUVAL NOAH HARARI, author of Sapiens
‘Bold and sweeping’ PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads
‘Profoundly thought-provoking’ KATE RAWORTH, author of Doughnut Economics

How has humans' evolutionary inheritance shaped global society?

Why are humans everywhere prone to believe in ghosts?
How might our tendency to imitate one another be contributing to the climate catastrophe?
And does our deep evolutionary past impel us to vote for strongmen?

In 1987, Harvey Whitehouse went to live with an indigenous community deep in the Papua New Guinea rainforest. His experiences there convinced him that, far from being wildly different, humans are fundamentally alike: their beliefs and behaviours rooted in a set of evolutionary urges that can be found in any society, anywhere.

Here, Whitehouse roves across twelve millennia and five continents to uncover how these evolved urges have both shaped and been reshaped by human history. Along the way, he shows that this ancient inheritance does not just hold the key to explaining the modern world – but perhaps also to changing it.

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‘Ranges widely across disciplines and timescales to formulate an exhilarating narrative of human history . . . Enthralling and mind-expanding’ IRISH TIMES

‘Profoundly important . . . Whitehouse shows how evolution sculpted our psychological make-up, how we overcame its limitations over the course of world history, and how we can wield this knowledge to face the challenges of the future’ LEWIS DARTNELL, author of Being Human

‘A very powerful, provocative and inspiring analysis of the human condition . . . Compelling and highly readable, this book shows why anthropology matters’ GILLIAN TETT, Financial Times columnist and Provost of King’s College, Cambridge

‘A thought provoking look at social forces, and the ways ordinary people can change the world’ GUARDIAN

About this title

About the Author

Professor Harvey Whitehouse is Chair of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford and Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion. One of the world’s leading experts on the evolutionary basis of human culture, Whitehouse’s work has featured in the Telegraph, Guardian, Scientific American and New Scientist, and he has delivered talks at the World Economic Forum and the United Nations. He lives in Oxford.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1529159156
• ISBN 13: 9781529159158
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368