Publisher's Weekly Review
Moffett (Adventures Among Ants), a visiting scholar in Harvard's Human Evolutionary Biology department, intrigues by setting human societies in the context of those of the animal kingdom. He returns to humanity's near kin, the chimpanzees and bonobos, again and again, but includes other surprising comparisons as well. Ants, perhaps, provide the most astonishing analogue, with one colony of Argentine ants spreading from the Mexican border north past San Francisco and with outliers in Hawaii and along nearly 2,000 miles of Europe's coast. What sets ants and humans apart from other species is the ability to live in anonymous societies, which Moffett illustrates with his cafAc example-a person can walk into a cafAc full of strangers, recognize them as members of his or her own society, and feel perfectly safe. Much of this work is devoted to the need for an "other" to define societies, including some rather disheartening studies on how deeply ingrained prejudices can be. Moffett, in his final thoughts, suggests that though humanity will never be free from all divisions, "humans have some capacity to counter our inherited propensities for conflict through deliberate self-correction." This fine work should have broad appeal to anyone curious about human societies, which is basically everyone. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Scientists routinely explain that humans rule the planet because of our intelligence, tools, or language, but this eye-opening account will convince most readers that our biggest asset is our ability to be comfortable around strangers.A research associate at the Smithsonian and a visiting scholar at Harvard's Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Moffett (Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions, 2010, etc.) points out that humans will walk into a cafe or stadium full of unfamiliar people without thinking twice. A chimpanzee, wolf, lion, or mouse encountering strangers could be attacked and perhaps killed. This abilitynot IQhas allowed humans to swarm over the world, argues the author. We belong to a society Moffett defines as "a discrete group of individuals amounting to more than a simple familywhose shared identity sets them apart from other such groups and is sustained continuously across the generations." Most animal colonies, flocks, herds, schools, packs, swarms, or prides are simply creatures getting together informally, but a small minority qualify as societies because members recognize who belongs and who doesn't. These provide access to resources and protection; however, despite the popular belief, cooperation is optional among higher animals. Lions do not necessarily hunt as a team, and a chimpanzee feels no obligation to share food. The author leaves no doubt that ants form the only society rivaling that of humans, featuring mutual cooperation, division of labor, and self-sacrifice. Much of the book is a fascinating exploration of how members of human societies identify who belongs and why most believe that their society is superior. Flags, food, hairstyle, dress, and heroic founding myths (their truth is irrelevant) all play significant roles, and infants absorb the prejudices of the adults around them as effortlessly as they do language.A delightfully accessible and ingenious series of lessons on humans and our societies. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Having tackled ant societies in Adventures among Ants (2010), Moffett broadens his focus to the societies of fauna generally, whether wasp, hamster, bonobo, or human. Ostensibly, he intends to show the striking similarities in between animals' social relations and humans'. Wider still, he aims to encourage a new unified field of study of societies across disciplines. In nine thematic sections, Moffett surveys countless aspects of social behavior in dozens of species. He asks how and why animals work together or against one another, how they define kith and kin, and how they form hierarchies. Several particularly engrossing passages revisit ants, with their intricate divisions of labor and supercolonies of astounding complexity. Insect, animal, and human society is a big topic, if it even is one topic, and the book suffers from its unreasonable breadth. Chapters jump and meander; terms remain frustratingly undefined. The book's clumsy treatment of human history reveals the shortcomings of its all-animal framework. It falls short of its grand ambitions, but its many illuminating anecdotes make it worthwhile for readers interested in the natural world.--Sam Kling Copyright 2019 Booklist
Choice Review
This is an extremely well-referenced and erudite just-so story about how human societies got to be so large. Moffett (Smithsonian) begins by explaining that the vast majority of mammalian societies, including those of our closest primate relatives, are limited to sizes of approximately 250 members because of the necessity for personal recognition of society-mates. Human societies, on the other hand, are huge, encompassing up to millions of people. Such scale is accomplished in part by the use of markers--language, dress, body decoration, national symbols, etc.--that allow us to recognize strangers as members of our societies. We have become anonymous societies like those of the ants and other social insects, who use scent as society markers. Moffett devotes most of the book to developing a logical argument--using many fields of study and many animal and human societies--about how this came to be. While his conjectures make sense, the proof for his hypotheses, based on the behavior of long-dead hominins and inferences from living societies of humans and other animals, is not forthcoming and will be difficult, if not impossible, to attain. A fascinating if also frustrating book. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --LUCILLE Lewis JOHNSON, emerita, Vassar College
Library Journal Review
Tropical biologist Moffett (visiting scholar, Harvard Univ.; Adventures Among the Ants) integrates research in biology, sociology, anthropology, and psychology to explore the nature and evolution of human societies. Beginning with the earliest humans, the author describes how cultures evolved from nomadic hunter-gatherer bands to tribes, villages, chiefdoms, and, finally, to the large complex states of today. For comparison, the author discusses various animal communities, including those of other primates. He argues that in significant ways, human societies resemble large ant populations more than they do that of chimps or bonobos, our closest genetic relatives. In addition, Moffett explains how human societies became so large, why all eventually die out, and the role of families and kin in their functioning. Some may bristle at the similarities made between human and Argentine ant societies, but Moffett argues his points well and provides a well-researched and richly detailed account of why societies have been a fundamental part of the human experience since our earliest ancestors. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed and Yuval Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.-Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
