Constant Battles: Why We Fight

292 Pages·2004·51.15 MB·English

by  Steven A. LeBlanc

.
CONSTANT
ATT
B
L
E
S
WHY
WE FIGHT
'LeBlanc shows that the eraofsticks and stones combat was more dangerous than ourown age
..
Awell-armed rebuttal to the notion that ourancient ancestors all just got along."
—
THE WALL STREETJOURNAL
STEVEN LEBLANC
A.
WITH KATHERINE REGISTER 1
E.
t

CONSTANT
BATTLES
!^ St. Martin's Griffin * ]Vfw York
3
CONSTANT
BATTLES
Why We
Fight
Steven A. LeBlanc
with Katherine E. Register
CONSTANT BATTLES:WHYWE FIGHT Copyright © 2003 by Steven A. LeBlanc with Katherine E.
Register. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States ofAmerica. No part ofthis book may be
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quota-
tions embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth
Avenue, NewYork, N.Y. lOOIO.
www.stmartins.com
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
LeBlanc, Steven A.
—
Constantbattles:whywefight/StevenA. LeBlancwithKatherineE.Register. 1stSt.Martins
Griffin ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-31089-7(he)
ISBN 0-312-31090-0(pbk)
EAN978-03I2-3I090-5
—
I.Warfare, Prehistoric. 2. Military art and science History. 3. Primitive societies. 4. Noble
savage. I. Register, Katherine E. II.Title.
GN799.W26L43 2004
—
303.6'6 dc22 2004041875
FirstSt. Martin's Griffin Edition: August 2004
987654321
10
To Laura Lee Stearns
for her long and valued support

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IX
prologue: Finding Warfare in All the "Wrong" Places xi
chapter one
Warfare and Ecology: Myth and Reality I
chapter wo
f
Was There Ever an Eden? 23
chapter three
Enter Conflict 55
chapter Jour
Our Earliest Past 77
chapter five
Warfare Among Foragers 100
chapter six
Conflict and Growth Among Tribal Farmers 128
chapter seven
Complex Societies 157
chapter eight
War or Peace for the Future? 199
NOTES 231
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 245
REFERENCES 247
INDEX 265