The Imperial Animal
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First UK ed.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Markings: Fair - Rubbed edges and bumping on spine and corners
Condition remarks: Small tear on jacket fold - repaired with tape. Otherwise fine.
What does it truly mean to be human? The Imperial Animal presents a groundbreaking argument that the roots of human social behaviour are not found in culture, history, or ideology, but are instead encoded in our very biology. Anthropologists Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox construct a compelling and provocative thesis: that *Homo sapiens* is a species shaped by millions of years of evolution, and that our political systems, family structures, dominance hierarchies, and social rituals are the direct expression of a primate heritage we can neither escape nor ignore. Written with intellectual verve and a confident, almost combative tone, the work challenges the prevailing social sciences of its era by arguing that human nature is a fixed and powerful force, not a blank slate. A landmark text in the field of biopolitics and human ethology, The Imperial Animal sits at the audacious crossroads of evolutionary biology, anthropology, and political philosophy. Tiger and Fox write with the authority of scientists and the ambition of philosophers, synthesising a vast body of research into a unified and often startling vision of the human animal. Their central argument — that we are, at our core, a species of imperial, status-seeking, group-forming primates — remains as challenging and thought-provoking today as when it was first published. For any reader who has ever wondered why human societies so consistently reproduce the same patterns of power, loyalty, and conflict, this book offers an answer that is at once deeply unsettling and utterly persuasive.
Author: Lionel Tiger & Robin Fox
Format: Hardback
Published: 1972, Secker & Warburg
Genre: Anthropology
Edition: First UK ed.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Markings: Fair - Rubbed edges and bumping on spine and corners
Condition remarks: Small tear on jacket fold - repaired with tape. Otherwise fine.
What does it truly mean to be human? The Imperial Animal presents a groundbreaking argument that the roots of human social behaviour are not found in culture, history, or ideology, but are instead encoded in our very biology. Anthropologists Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox construct a compelling and provocative thesis: that *Homo sapiens* is a species shaped by millions of years of evolution, and that our political systems, family structures, dominance hierarchies, and social rituals are the direct expression of a primate heritage we can neither escape nor ignore. Written with intellectual verve and a confident, almost combative tone, the work challenges the prevailing social sciences of its era by arguing that human nature is a fixed and powerful force, not a blank slate. A landmark text in the field of biopolitics and human ethology, The Imperial Animal sits at the audacious crossroads of evolutionary biology, anthropology, and political philosophy. Tiger and Fox write with the authority of scientists and the ambition of philosophers, synthesising a vast body of research into a unified and often startling vision of the human animal. Their central argument — that we are, at our core, a species of imperial, status-seeking, group-forming primates — remains as challenging and thought-provoking today as when it was first published. For any reader who has ever wondered why human societies so consistently reproduce the same patterns of power, loyalty, and conflict, this book offers an answer that is at once deeply unsettling and utterly persuasive.