African Genesis

A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man: Robert Ardrey's Nature of Man Series, Volume 1

By: Robert Ardrey

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

In 1955, on a visit to South Africa, Robert Ardrey became aware of the growing evidence that man had evolved on the African continent from carnivorous, predatory stock - ones who had also, long before man, achieved the use of weapons.

A dramatist, Ardrey's interest in the African discoveries sprang less from purely scientific grounds than from the radical new light they cast on the eternal question: Why do we behave as we do? Are we naturally inclined toward war and weapons?

From 1955 to 1961, Ardrey commuted between the museums and libraries and laboratories of the North and the games reserves and fossil beds of Africa, trying to answer that question. Eventually,his investigation expanded to include nationalism and patriotism, private property and social order, hierarchy and status seeking, even conscience. All revealed roots in our most ancient animal beginnings and parallels in primate societies.

African Genesis is at once the story of an unprecedented personal search and a story of man that had never before been told. It is a shocking book in that it challenges assumptions of human uniqueness that color every segment of modern thought and every aspect of our daily life.

While evolutionary science has advanced markedly since Ardrey's times, his insights on human behavior have a timeless quality, and African Genesis remains a classic reference for anyone exploring life's biggest questions.

©1961, 1989 STORYDESIGN, LTD. (P)2015 STORYDESIGN, LTD.

Critic reviews

"The most enjoyable and stimulating book on the evolution of man that has been published for some time." ( The Nation)

Excellent introduction to modern views of human evolution

This book was clearly written in the 60s, but that doesn’t detract from its interest. It does an excellent job of laying out how the evolutionary theories we take for granted today developed despite the constant pushback from established wisdom. More than a half century later, much (but not all) of what he presents has been accepted.