Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History

"Eve's Seed is a bestseller waiting to be discovered: a package of sex, science, and species' vanity nicely wrapped in sparkling prose."--Joyce Appleby, Los Angeles Times

In this provocative reinterpretation of the human experience, noted historian Robert S. McElvaine bridges the gap between evolutionary biology and history to create a new approach which he terms "biohistory." Here for the first time he presents a startlingly fresh thesis: misperceptions about sexual difference and procreative power have, along with misleading sexual metaphors, been the major forces in history. In a bold departure from the methods of conventional history, Eve's Seed shows how the interplay between our evolutionary heritage and changing environments has shaped the course of history, from the days of hunter-gatherers to the contemporary world.