WULOLIFE
"The Great Coexistence: 8 Animal Companions That Changed Human History" Author: [UK] Brian Fagan Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group
"The Great Coexistence: 8 Animal Companions That Changed Human History" Author: [UK] Brian Fagan Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group
Couldn't load pickup availability
Description
Introduction · · · · · ·
★A global history from an animal’s perspective, anti-anthropocentrism, and a masterpiece of posthuman historiography.
★ Explore the silent forces behind the hunting revolution, agricultural revolution, the rise and fall of empires, the success and failure of wars, the beginning of globalization, and the formation of multiculturalism.
★Looking at the changes in the relationship between humans and animals over tens of thousands of years, we reflect on the limitations of current animal protection and advocate building a community with a shared future where humans and animals live in harmony!
★Important supplementary reading for "Guns, Germs, and Steel"!
Dogs, horses, cows, pigs, donkeys, goats, sheep, camels, these 8 animals are not unfamiliar to us. They often appear around us, in various works, and even on our dining tables. But did you know that they are not only food, tools, and cute pets for humans, but also have a profound impact on the entire human history. Without them, humans would not be what they are today! Without them, there would be no human civilization!
Around 15,000 BC, some wolves that often scavenged for food around human settlements became deeply integrated into human society and became the first domesticated animal, the dog. Over the next 10,000 years, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys, horses, and camels entered human society one after another.
Dogs and humans hunting together sparked a hunting revolution, helping Homo sapiens outcompete other hominins.
The domestication of pigs, goats, and sheep gave humans a stable food source, making settled life possible. Ownership and inheritance rights emerged, and the number of animals owned became a symbol of wealth and a sign of social status. Social differentiation began.
The cattle are the engine of the agricultural economy. Without them, agricultural civilization cannot develop. The cattle are also a symbol of power and an important sacrifice, playing a special role in political life.
Donkeys and camels can be called the "pickup trucks of history". They traveled along the Silk Road and other trade routes in Europe, Asia and Africa, transporting goods and spreading culture, quietly initiating early globalization.
Horses are not only luxury pickup trucks, but also war machines. The emergence of horse-drawn chariots and cavalry changed the battlefield situation. Nomadic peoples on horseback constantly harassed the farming society under the hooves of cattle. Horses created empires and horses overthrew empires.
For tens of thousands of years, these eight animals have continuously shaped human history. But in the industrial society, everything changed. Except for dogs that continue to be pampered by humans, donkeys and camels have long been forgotten, horses are struggling to survive in niche sports, and pigs, cows, and sheep are only regarded as mass-produced meat. Living creatures have become cold numbers, and the once intimate relationship has become cold, mercenary, and indifferent. Is this a historical inevitability? Where will the relationship between humans and animals go in the future?
This book integrates the research results of multiple disciplines such as history, archaeology, anthropology, climatology, and biology. It breaks the anthropocentric narrative and presents a grand historical picture of "humans domesticated animals, and animals changed humans". It calls for treating these heroes of human history well and building a community with a shared future where humans and animals live in harmony!
About the Author · · · · · ·
Brian Fagan (1936-), a world-renowned archaeologist and anthropologist, is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a PhD from Pembroke College, Cambridge University. He was the curator of prehistory at the Livingstone Museum in Zambia. In 2017, the third World Archaeology Forum held in Shanghai, China awarded Fagan the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the World Archaeology Forum.
Fagan has published more than 40 books and hundreds of papers. He is a special editor of journals such as World Archaeology and American Archaeology, and an archaeology consultant for the National Geographic Society and the Encyclopedia Britannica. Fagan is good at combining archaeology, anthropology and historical research, and pays special attention to the role of natural forces such as climate, animals and oceans in the development of human civilization. More than 10 of his representative works, such as Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, World Prehistory, Archaeology and Prehistoric Civilizations, The Little Ice Age, The Great Warming, History of Maritime Civilizations, and The Plunder of the Nile, have been translated into Chinese and published. His other important works include The Attack of the Ocean, Cro-Magnons, and The Long Summer.
In addition to academic research and teaching, Fagan is also happy to spread archaeological and anthropological knowledge to the public. He has served as a consultant to the BBC, RKO and many Hollywood documentary production companies. In 1995, he served as a senior consultant for the Time-Life TV documentary series "Lost Civilizations". In 1996, he received the "Outstanding Public Service Award" from the American Association of Professional Archaeologists for his "persistent dissemination of archaeology to the public". In the same year, he received the "President's Medal" from the American Archaeological Society for his contributions to textbook writing, popular writing and media activities. In 1997, he received the "Public Education Contribution Award" from the American Archaeological Society.
!["The Great Coexistence: 8 Animal Companions That Changed Human History" Author: [UK] Brian Fagan Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)