Nancy Lindisfarne is an anthropologist who previously studied and taught at SOAS University of London. Her most recent book, written with Richard Tapper, is 'Afghan Village Voices'. Jonathan Neale is an historian and professional writer. His most recent book is 'Fight the Fire: Green New Deals and Global Climate Jobs'.
"'An ambitious attempt to explain the origin of class and women’s oppression.' -- Counterfire 'The evidence Lindisfarne and Neale present is eye-opening and eclectic. … 'Why Men?' is conceived as a tonic against popular grand histories of humanity … whose naturalising of inequality the authors chastise, together with their purportedly related neoliberal politics. … [A] refreshing book.' -- Oren Harman, The Spectator 'A brilliant, funny, unputdownable book for our times, spectacularly puncturing dominant myths about human nature to explain how wealth creates war, why the ""dark ages"" weren’t so dark, and how we were once much less violent. Wonderful.' -- Danny Dorling, author of 'Peak Inequality' and 'All That Is Solid' 'Fantastic storytelling and exhaustive research. This book takes us on a journey through civilisations and mythology to uncover the roots of gendered violence and inequality. Like nothing I have read before.' -- Pragya Agarwal, author of 'Sway', '(M)otherhood' and 'Hysterical' 'Whether you're a hater or a fan of Harari, Diamond and Pinker, this is a must-read: a fantastic historical thriller, and an insightful, expansive look at a great mystery of our time, showing that human oppression and violence are not inevitable.' -- Chip Colwell, author of 'Stuff: Humanity's Epic Journey from Naked Ape to Nonstop Shopper' 'A provocative counter-history of that elusive entity, ""human nature"". This book gives us much to think about.' -- Priyamvada Gopal, author of 'Insurgent Empire' 'Eye-opening. Evolutionary accounts stressing the selfish, violent and male-dominated nature of our species--or our primate relative--often reflect thinly disguised ideological biases, as ""Why Men?"" so clearly shows.' -- Frans de Waal, author of 'Chimpanzee Politics' and 'Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist'"