Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780345408938)

"[A] magisterial survey of childbearing through the ages . . . It wams the heart to witness the fierce loyalty this sophisticated feminist professor of anthropology . . . bears towards her paleolithic sisters."--San Francisco Chronicle

Maternal instinct--the all-consuming, utterly selfless love that mothers lavish on their children--has long been assumed to be an innate, indeed defining element of a woman's nature. But is it? In this provocative, groundbreaking book, renowned anthropologist (and mother) Sarah Blaffer Hrdy shares a radical new vision of motherhood and its crucial role in human evolution.

Hrdy strips away stereotypes and gender-biased myths to demonstrate that traditional views of maternal behavior are essentially wishful thinking codified as objective observation. As Hrdy argues, far from being "selfless," successful primate mothers have always combined nurturing with ambition, mother love with sexual love, ambivalence with devotion. In fact all mothers, in the struggle to guarantee both their own survival and that of their offspring, deal nimbly with competing demands and conflicting strategies.

In her nuanced, stunningly original interpretation of the relationships between mothers and fathers, mothers and babies, and mothers and their social groups, Hrdy offers not only a revolutionary new meaning to motherhood but an important new understanding of human evolution. Written with grace and clarity, suffused with the wisdom of a long and distinguished career, Mother Nature is a profound contribution to our understanding of who we are as a species--and why we have become this way.

Author: Sarah Hrdy
ISBN-10: 0345408934
ISBN-13: 9780345408938
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Language: English
Published: 09/05/2000
Pages: 756
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.65lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.14w x 1.33d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 01/28/2001 pg. 24
Science Books & Films Best Bks 01/01/2002 pg. 295
New York Times Book Review 06/21/2012 pg. 23