Books by Richard Wrangham

Argues that it was cooking that caused the transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. This title focuses on the idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour.

An analysis of the roots of human savagery, dealing with the fundamental questions of why the majority of violence is perpetrated by men; is it a matter of nature or nurture, and can anything be done about it? The book compares male violence among humans and among the great apes.