Steve Olson Houghton Mifflin 2002 CONTENTS Introduction: The Human Pageant 1 I. Africa 1. The End of Evolution: The African Origins of Modern Humans 11 2. Individuals and Groups: The Divergence of Modern Humans 32 3. The African Diaspora and the Genetic Unity of Modern Humans 54 II. The Middle East 4. Encounters with the Other: Modern Humans and Neandertals in the Middle East 73 5. Agriculture, Civilization, and the Emergence of Ethnicity 90 6. God's People: A Genetic History of the Jews 106 III. Asia and Australia 7. The Great Migration: To Asia and Beyond 123 8. Sprung from a Common Source: Genes and Languages 137 IV. Europe 9. Who Are the Europeans? 157 10. Immigration and the Future of Europe 175 V. The Americas 11. The Settlement of the Americas 193 12. The Burden of Knowledge: Native Americans and the Human Genome Diversity Project 208 VI. The World 13. The End of Race: Hawaii and the Mixing of Peoples 223 Notes 241 Acknowledgments 277 Index 279 FROM THE PUBLICITY PAGE Every year or so the media trumpet a new archaeological finding that reframes the early years of the human species. Most often fossils that are unearthed slightly rearrange the progression, both evolutionary and geographic, from archaic to modern humans. While intriguing, these new findings rarely help interested readers understand the wider story of human prehistory. In Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes, Steve Olson, one of the country's most accomplished science writers, provides the first detailed narrative of the rise of modern humans. He weaves together findings from archaeology, linguistics, and, above all, genetics to produce unique insights into who we are and where we came from. He also shows that the ethnic and racial differences that loom so large in today's societies are biologically meaningless. "Only about 7,500 generations separate everyone alive today from a common set of ancestors," Olson reminds us. Traveling across four continents, he traces the dispersal of our ancestors from Africa to the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Along the way he meets with scientists who have filled in important parts of the genetic story on each continent he visits. And in a final section on the world as a whole, he draws far-reaching conclusions about the long-term genetic future of our species. Like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, Mapping Human History is a groundbreaking synthesis of science and history. Drawing on a wide range of research and sources, Olson provides startling new perspectives on the invention of agriculture, the peopling of the Americas, the origins of language, the history of the Jews, and much more. This fascinating popular account of the evolution of the human race draws on the latest DNA and genetic research as well as on more traditional sources, including linguistic evidence and the fossil record. Steve Olson has written extensively on biological sciences, working with the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Genomic Research in Washington, D.C., with some of the most prominent people in contemporary scientific research, including Stephen Jay Gould, Jim Watson, and Edward O. Wilson. He has written for magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post Magazine, Slate, and Science. Olson will take part in a five-city national tour to mark the publication of Mapping Human History. WHERE TO ORDER Houghton Mifflin Company Trade Customer Service 181 Ballardvale Street P.O. Box 7050 Wilmington, MA 01887 Tel: 1-800-225-3362 Fax: 1-800-634-7568 Web site: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com PRICE: $25.00 (Hardcover) ISBN 0-618-09157-2 Posted Date: 10-29-02
URL: http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/review/mapping.html
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