Baby Wars
Parenthood and Family Strife
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- $1.900
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- $1.900
Descripción editorial
First published in 1998, Baby Wars was the second title in a controversial trilogy of books which placed the past, present and future of human reproduction under the microscope of evolutionary biology. Baby Wars itself was focussed on parenthood and family strife, and attracted such international interest that it was translated into eight different languages. This digital English edition, with a new Preface by the authors, was released in 2017 to celebrate the book's upcoming 20th anniversary.
Neither childhood nor parenthood is easy and to a greater or lesser extent babies mean wars in all families. Some of these wars are subtle and physiological, hidden from the conscious mind. Others are obvious, even aggressive, and plain for all to see. Even the most tranquil of families can experience conflict, and for some life can become virtually a running battle. But, as Baby Wars shows, there is an evolutionary rationale behind all of this disharmony. It even emerges that without many of the conflicts most people would gain less than they do from their reproductive and family experience, a paradox that forms one of the major themes of the book.
The book's format, a hallmark of the whole trilogy, is first to dramatise each topic as a fictionalised case-study, then to use the perspective of evolutionary biology to interpret the behaviour shown by the drama's main characters. Topics covered range from the commonplace (such as conception campaigns, pregnancy sickness, labour pains, sleepless nights, and grandparenthood) to the illegal (such as incest and child abuse).
Apart from the new Preface and an occasional minor correction or clarification the 20th Anniversary edition is a faithful digital version of the original paperback. Yet, despite the years since it was written, this release of Baby Wars is as relevant now to the understanding of the evolved drivers of reproduction and parenthood as it was at the time of the first edition. None of the scientific interpretations in the original book have been superseded in the interim. Nor, naturally, has there been any change in those instincts of men, women and children that are at the book's heart. For anybody who wishes to understand why family life and strife has evolved to be as it is, rather than how many would like it to be, the answers can be found in Baby Wars' pages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As changes in the structure of the family pervade modern society, experts from many fields are racing to explain the ramifications and origins of these variations. Baker and Oram (Sperm Wars) sidestep social science and psychology to discuss the genesis of today's family dynamics from the standpoint of evolutionary biology. The authors draw on recent research to attempt to show that the basis of familial conflict lies not in our psyches but in our genes, and to prove the provocative if narrow theorem that natural selection drives family members to position themselves for "reproductive success" in either the present or the long run. They range widely over such topics as infidelity, postpartum depression, incest and mate selection, with fictional scenarios that will strike a familiar chord for many readers. In each, they emphasize how the characters (and by extension, all humans) are motivated by a desire to replicate as favorably as possible. The authors further assert that these drives are hardwired into our genetic makeup. Baker and Oram emphasize that familial conflicts are normal, inevitable and educational, and that even apparently destructive and irrational actions have a deep-seated biological coherence. Written specifically for a lay audience, this primer on the Darwinian viewpoint in the nature vs. nurture debate is bound to be controversial.