Beauty and the Beasts; Woman, Ape, and Evolution

Carole Jahme

ISBN 10: 1569472319 / ISBN 13: 9781569472316

Published by Soho Press, New York, NY, 2001

About this Item

Soho Press, New York. 2001. Hardcover. Stated First US Edition/First Printing by Line Number. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Near Fine; light head and tail bumping. DJ: Near Fine; NOT Price Clipped ($25.00); light bumping at head and tail; slight rubbing. gray boards with black overlay on the spine with bright gilt lettering on the spine. Maps as endpapers. 406 pp 8vo. The number of women in the field of primatology is scant now, but Dr. Louis Leakey recruited female primatologists as they were less biased and more empathic. This book honors the few; Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Mary leakey, Shirley McGrill, Birute Galdikas who braved everything from civil war to enrages simians with fangs bared. A clean very presentable copy. Seller Inventory # 006697

Bibliographic Details

Title: Beauty and the Beasts; Woman, Ape, and ...

Publisher: Soho Press, New York, NY

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Details the many women who have gone to great lengths to study and protect primates, from Jane Goodall and Dian Fosset to Mary Leakey and many others, by providing a wealth of fascinating stories that detail their mysterious connection and identification with these primates.

Review:

Women have played a large and crucial part in "primatology"--the science of the great apes. Most people, for instance, will have heard of Dian Fossey, whose life and death amid the apes of central Africa was the inspiration for the film Gorillas in the Mist. Others will know of Jane Goodall, and her unflinching studies into the cruelty, violence and pathos of chimpanzee social life.

But as this refreshing and accessible book points out, there's lots more names that should be added to the proud roster of "ape women". Scientists such as Shirley McGrill, Mary Leakey and Birute Galdikas have all braved the hazards of the field (such as disease, civil war and rape by orang-utans), to come back with eye-witness accounts of simian behaviour. Disciplines as diverse as sexology and virology have benefited from their research.

Quite why women should be so adept at primatology is a moot point, and one that Jahme addresses. Is it typically female patience, empathy, tolerance and intuition? Or just the best scientists doing the best work? Either way, Jahme's intriguing text is a fitting monument to half a century of dauntless and exacting scientific endeavour.--Sean Thomas