Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species [Anglais] [Broché]

Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection should be required reading for anyone who happens to be a human being. In it, Hrdy reveals the motivations behind some of our most primal and hotly contested behavioral patterns--those concerning gender roles, mate choice, sex, reproduction, and parenting--and the ideas and institutions that have grown up around them. She unblinkingly examines and illuminates such difficult subjects as control of reproductive rights, infanticide, "mother love," and maternal ambition with its ever-contested companions: child care and the limits of maternal responsibility. Without ever denying personal accountability, she points out that many of the patterns of abuse and neglect that we see in cultures around the world (including, of course, our own) are neither unpredictable nor maladaptive in evolutionary terms. "Mother" Nature, as she points out, is not particularly concerned with what we call "morality." The philosophical and political implications of our own deeply-rooted behaviors are for us to determine--which can be done all the better with the kind of understanding gleaned from this exhaustive work.

Hrdy's passion for this material is evident, and she is deeply aware of the personal stake she has here as a woman, a mother, and a professional. This highly accomplished author relies on her own extensive research background as well as the works of others in multiple disciplines (anthropology, primatology, sociobiology, psychology, and even literature). Despite the exhaustive documentation given to her conclusions (as witness the 140-plus-page notes and bibliography sections), the book unfolds in an exceptionally lucid, readable, and often humorous manner. It is a truly compelling read, highly recommended. --Katherine Ferguson --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

Our culture's exalted view of motherhood, argues sociobiologist Hrdy in this iconoclastic study, is sentimentally appealing but fails to take into account the wide range of responses that comprise maternal "instincts," including many that may seem counterintuitive to reproductive goals. Using data from her own primate research as well as new evolutionary theories, literature and folklore, Hrdy, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California-Davis, shows that animal mothers make constant "trade-offs" to negotiate conflicts between their own needs and those of their offspringAoften based on the odds of their progeny's survival. Ironically, reproductive success has exacerbated pressures on human mothers, who must often care for multiple older offspring while simultaneously accommodating newborns. To cope, they may resort to the sexual selection of offspring, the use of helpers or various levels of withdrawal from particular babies, ranging from mild neglect to abandonment to infanticide. Hrdy's engaging though repetitive argument offers provocative new analyses of wet-nursing, the culling of offspring of the "wrong" sex (sometimes, surprisingly, boys) and even the adaptive behaviors newborns use to ensure their mothers' attachment. Though she is intent on rectifying male biases in biology, Hrdy rejects strident gender politics. Ample support and access to quality day care, she concludes, are essential to achieving the ideal that every infant be loved and nurtured. Agent, Mitchell Waters, Curtis Brown Inc.; 7-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

Some experts argue that mothers learn to love their children, others that they are genetically programmed to do so. Refreshingly, anthropologist Hrdy charts a middle course, showing (not surprisingly) that things aren't so simple. She makes her points by drawing on decades of fieldwork, presented in a clear and lively fashion. (LJ 10/15/99)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

This is not just a book for mothers but one that will stimulate and challenge anyone interested in the relationship between parents and children. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

In her latest work, Hrdy, author of The Woman That Never Evolved (1983, repr.), debunks the American myth of the ideal mother who instantly bonds with and safeguards her baby. She explores the ideas behind the concept of the "perfect" mother, which is, in fact, an anomaly throughout nature and human history. To understand human behavior patterns, one must review our evolutionary and historical past, and that is how Hrdy methodically answers the multiple questions posed in this book: What are maternal instincts? What are the issues behind infanticide and abortion? How important is the role of the father figure? Why do parents discriminate between boy and girl children? Why are babies considered cute? Hrdy presents her argument in an informed and thoughtful manner, weaving historical and literary anecdotes with biological and psychological studies. A captivating and thought-provoking study. Julia Glynn --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

An extraordinary body of scholarship that is as much a social and psychological history of women as child-bearersand moreas a review of male and female biology and behavior across many species, particularly kindred primates. Hrdy (anthropology emeritus/UC Davis) creates an encyclopedia of data, interpretation, and speculation on what mothers and babies are all about. Leading with a wonderful remark by George Eliot: ``Mother Naturewho by the bye is an old lady with some bad habitsshe notes that the dominant 19th-century patriarchal view saw women as baby-makers, inferior in all other ways to males. Hrdy's theme, broader and less materialistic than that of The Woman That Never Evolved (1981), is that there has always been great flexibility in the living arrangements among social groups, particularly in mammals, but also in social insects. Evolving features of human biology have helped females improve their offspring's chance of survival (concealed ovulation, continuous sexual receptivity, the enlisting of ``allomothers'' who can help in child-rearing). Further, there is no maternal ``instinct'' as such, but simply a concern that at least some offspring should survive, even it means the sacrifice of others. Indeed one of Hrdys more stunning chapters deals with infanticide, whether practiced at birth or by farming infants out to incompetent or inadequate wet nurses or placing them in foundling hospitals with appalling rates of survival. The latter parts of the book deal with survival and selection from the baby's point of view: a kind of gamesmanship in which plump, pink-cheeked newborns charm their moms. In reviewing all these topics, Hrdy steers a path between extremists of every camp and projects her own, sometimes anxious, experience as wife, mother, and scientist onto the narrative. ``Family values'' camps will be shocked, ardent feminists irritated, and psychoanalysts dismissive. For the open-minded, however, this is a breathtaking feat of scholarship that will have enduring value as an encyclopedic source of hard data and inspired speculation. (Photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

"This is a superb book. It is beautifully and clearly written, by one of the nation's leading primatologists and sociobiologists, without sacrificing intellectual rigor; it is the best introduction I know to both fields. It establishes more convincingly than any other work with which I am familiar the relevance of the study of (other) primates and of human evolution, to urgent current issues of public policy involving women, children, and the family." -- Richard Posner, Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

"A magnificent synthesis of ideas about motherhood, this is a book brimming with warmth, wisdom, and wit. It is not easy in a polarised academic world to keep a foot in the feminist camp and another in evolutionary psychology, nor to bridge the arts and sciences so effortlessly. But Sarah Blaffer Hrdy achieves these feats." -- Matt Ridley, author of The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation

"Mother Nature is a book to treasure and to study, both for its impeccable research and for the wise ways that author Sarah Blaffer Hrdy weaves her own experience of motherhood into her text." -- Susan Brownmiller, author of Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape

"Mother Nature is a pioneering reassessment of key assumptions in debates about human evolution. By demonstrating how female strategies as mates and mothers have shaped the evolutionary process throughout nature, Hrdy succeeds in overturning some of the most entrenched theories in this scientific domain.  A worthy companion to Darwin's Descent of Man, and an endlessly fascinating read, Mother Nature reflects a lifetime of bold research and judicious thought by one of the foremost primatologists of our day." -- Frank Sulloway

"Mother Nature is a stunning achievement. The book reveals the highest scholarship with an unparalleled breadth in the use of the comparative method.  Hrdy expertly uses the comparative method. Hrdy expertly uses the comparative method to illustrate her points by contrasting biology and behavior across species and orders, and by making full use of human variation both through evolutionary and historical time and across space and cultures. This book is a very accessible, scientific discussion of the evolutionary history of maternal care written by a first rate scientist." -- Jane B. Lancaster, Editor of Human Nature

"Sarah Hrdy's scholarly but readable book on motherhood demonstrates once and for all the power of a Darwinian approach, when combined with an appreciation of cultural differences, for the understanding of human behavior. Providing a comprehensive discussion of diverse aspects of motherhood ranging from the physiological to the sociological, it also faces a crucial problem for many women today--the clash between career and motherhood." -- Robert Hinde, Royal Society Research Professor, Cambridge University

"Hrdy has given us a truly monumental work, as elegant as it is insightful. It took a woman scientist to find the rightful place of our species in the matrix of the animal kingdom, and Hrdy has done so brilliantly. This is by no means the usual psychobabble or hodge podge of animal behavior that other authors so often use to define us -- here is a clear and telling examination of a hitherto almost unknown organism -- the human female. Any woman wanting to know who she really is will find out in the pages of this tremendously important work of real science by a real scientist." -- Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

"This is a brilliant, liberating book on a profoundly important subject. Sarah Hrdy, the leading scientific authority on motherhood, is also, to the benefit of us all, one of the best stylists now writing on any subject in science." -- E.O. Wilson

"By demolishing superstitions that have long clouded our true natures, Sarah Hrdy shows how knowledge may be our best tool for achieving justice among women, men, and the generations that follow. Clear-eyed science can equip us for this liberating journey, far better than any rigid ideology. Mother Nature takes us one bold step along that road." -- David Brin, author of Glory Season and The Transparent Society

"This is a deep and brilliant work, a masterful account of mother nature and the nature of motherhood, with a superb selection of photos, built on a powerful logic by someone who easily and clearily sees life both from the inside and the outside." -- Robert Trivers, Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

We are tempted to think of maternal instinct as a quality a woman has or lacks. But the belief that mothers instinctively nurture their offspring--one of the West's most cherished ideals and a view widely accepted even in scientific circles--has become increasingly controversial. Mother Nature presents a radical new way of understanding how mothers act and why, and how this new understanding is changing the way scientists think about how evolution works.

Drawing on anthropology, history, literature, developmental psychology, and animal behavior, Sarah Hrdy examines the distinct biological and genetic elements that constitute maternal instinct. She strips away the biases implicit in conventional stereotypes of female nature to give us very different and provocative perspectives on maternal ambivalence, the links between maturity and ambition, mother love and sexual love, and why age-old tensions between the sexes persist--and are being played out today in efforts to control women's reproductive choices.

Combining decades of research with her own experience as a mother, Hrdy makes clear in this remarkable book what it means--from a historical and evolutionary perspective--to be a mother and explains how this knowledge has transformed our understanding of human development and behavior. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

"Sarah Hrdy's magisterial survey of childbearing through the ages sets a new standard for the graceful blending of scholarship, field research and personal experience. As meticulously documented as the book is, it never loses the human touch...Mother Nature is one of those landmark books that forces you to rethink everything you thought you knew about human nature..."
-- San Francisco Chronicle

"This is a superb book. It is beautifully and clearly written, by one of the nation's leading primatologists and sociobiologists, without sacrificing intellectual rigor; it is the best introduction I know to both fields. It establishes more convincingly than any other work with which I am familiar the relevance of the study of (other) primates and of human evolution, to urgent current issues of public policy involving women, children, and the family."
-- Richard Posner, Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

"A magnificent synthesis of ideas about motherhood, this is a book brimming with warmth, wisdom, and wit. It is not easy in a polarised academic world to keep a foot in the feminist camp and another in evolutionary psychology, nor to bridge the arts and sciences so effortlessly. But Sarah Blaffer Hrdy achieves these feats."
-- Matt Ridley, author of The Origins of Virtue : Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation

"Hrdy has given us a truly monumental work, as elegant as it is insightful. It took a woman scientist to find the rightful place of our species in the matrix of the animal kingdom, and Hrdy has done so brilliantly. This is by no means the usual psychobabble or hodge podge of animal behavior that other authors so often use to define us -- here is a clear and telling examination of a hitherto almost unknown organism -- the human female. Any woman wanting to know who she really is will find out in the pages of this tremendously important work of real science by a real scientist."
-- Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

"This is a brilliant, liberating book on a profoundly important subject. Sarah Hrdy, the leading scientific authority on motherhood, is also, to the benefit of us all, one of the best stylists now writing on any subject in science."
-- E.O. Wilson

"Mother Nature is a pioneering reassessment of key assumptions in debates about human evolution. By demonstrating how female strategies as mates and mothers have shaped the evolutionary process throughout nature, Hrdy succeeds in overturning some of the most entrenched theories in this scientific domain. A worthy companion to Darwin's Descent of Man, and an endlessly fascinating read, Mother Nature reflects a lifetime of bold research and judicious thought by one of the foremost primatologists of our day."
-- Frank Sulloway

"Mother Nature is a stunning achievement. The book reveals the highest scholarship with an unparalleled breadth in the use of the comparative method. Hrdy expertly uses the comparative method. Hrdy expertly uses the comparative method to illustrate her points by contrasting biology and behavior across species and orders, and by making full use of human variation both through evolutionary and historical time and across space and cultures. This book is a very accessible, scientific discussion of the evolutionary history of maternal care written by a first rate scientist."--Jane B. Lancaster, Editor of Human Nature

"By demolishing superstitions that have long clouded our true natures, Sarah Hrdy shows how knowledge may be our best tool for achieving justice among women, men, and the generations that follow. Clear-eyed science can equip us for this liberating journey, far better than any rigid ideology. Mother Nature takes us one bold step along that road."
-- David Brin, author of Glory Season and The Transparent Society

"This is a deep and brilliant work, a masterful account of mother nature and the nature of motherhood, with a superb selection of photos, built on a powerful logic by someone who easily and clearily sees life both from the inside and the outside."
-- Robert Trivers, Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy is an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California at Davis and a fellow of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The author of three previous books, including The Woman That Never Evolved, she lives in northern California. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.