After Eden
The Evolution of Human Domination

Integrating research in palaeontology, archaeology, and anthropology, this book links our penchant for domination, which is causing serious damage to the earth, to the Homo sapiens' adoption of big-game hunting 70,000 years ago and the consequent separation from, and eventual antagonism to, our fellow species.

Tracing the migration of populations and the development of hunting thousands of years forward in time, he shows that hunting became increasingly adversarial in relation to the environment as people fought over scarce prey during Europe's glacial period between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago. By the end of that era, humans' idea that we were the superior species on the planet, free to exploit other species toward our own ends, was well established. "After Eden" is a sobering tale, but not one without hope. Sale asserts that Homo erectus, the variation of the hominid species that preceded Homo sapiens and survived for nearly two million years, did not attempt to dominate the environment. He contends that vestiges of this more ecologically sound way of life exist today - in some tribal societies, in the central teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism, and in the core principles of the worldwide environmental movement - offering redemptive possibilities for ourselves and for the planet.