Hunting The Pursuit That Shaped Humanity

About this book

From an acclaimed archaeological writer, a worldwide history of hunting.

Hunting is one of humanity's most ancient and universal activities. It has been embedded in every facet of our lives, including male-female relations, social hierarchies, and interactions with the spirit world. This book tells the story of how hunting evolved from a means of survival practiced with clubs and spears to a genteel display of royal power, and how it has become, in today's world, complicated and hotly contested.

In this wide-ranging study, Brian Fagan discusses how Neanderthals stalked prey and killed at close range, the evolution of hunting as a political spectacle, and the ecological crisis created by commercial and trophy hunting. He invites us to hunt with Charlemagne, explains how there was more to the demise of North American bison herds than rifles, and looks at how influential figures such as John Muir, George Bird Grinnell, and Theodore Roosevelt fought for conservation during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Filled with lively stories, fascinating discoveries, and compelling characters, Fagan's exploration of hunting – a companion to his Fishing – offers an informed and entertaining history of an essential human pursuit.

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Biography

Brian Fagan (1936-2025) was an internationally recognized authority on global prehistory. He was emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of dozens of books, including Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization; A Little History of Archaeology; The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations; and The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History.