Insightful and breathtaking YUVAL NOAH HARARI author of SapiensBold and sweeping PETER FRANKOPAN author of The Silk RoadsProfoundly thoughtprovoking KATE RAWORTH author of Doughnut EconomicsHow has humans evolutionary inheritance shaped global societyWhy are humans everywhere prone to believe in ghostsHow might our tendency to imitate one another be contributing to the climate catastropheAnd does our deep evolutionary past impel us to vote for strongmenIn 1987 Harvey Whitehouse went to live with an indigenous community deep in the Papua New Guinea rainforest. His experiences there convinced him that far from being wildly different humans are fundamentally alike their beliefs and behaviours rooted in a set of evolutionary urges that can be found in any society anywhere.Here Whitehouse roves across twelve millennia and five continents to uncover how these evolved urges have both shaped and been reshaped by human history. Along the way he shows that this ancient inheritance does not just hold the key to explaining the modern world but perhaps also to changing it.Ranges widely across disciplines and timescales to formulate an exhilarating narrative of human history .