I feel like I'm being a little generous giving this one four stars for two reason: (1) It's quite dated - So much has been learned and written, both in formal and popular science circles, since this book was first published in 1961, the arguments Ardrey puts forth are not quite as true to the mark as they once appeared to be, but more importantly (2) Ardrey's style of writing is much less suited to today's readership than it must have been 40 years ago. He ceaselessly anthropomorphosizes his animal characters far past where it's proper. This tends to detract from his overall arguments in today's more savvy readership.

Still, Ardrey had a point to make. And it's a good one. The struggle for survival in the natural world is the game our ancestors played as well, and we're here because we were good at it - better than our ancestors competing for the same niche. That's why we're here and they're not.

This book is also a starting point from which popular anthropology has its base. It was very shortly after this point in time that the Leakeys came into the public arena in a big way. So it's interesting to see where the forefront of the public view was at this point in time. There's a fairly decent summary of the work done up to that point as well. Fellows like Dart, who pioneered the field of modern physical anthropology, tend to get forgotten in the frenzy of activity that followed in the 60's and beyond. For these reasons, the book is worth getting.

Finding Ardrey's "African Genesis" may be a chore. But the Amazon book search worked for me, ...

African Genesis is a book that deals with experiments, scientific facts, and evolutionary developments. Even though its old you still have to respect all of the different information in this book. Ardrey's first explanation's are the importance of territory. He used two studies done by other Anthropologists. One with ants the other with birds. The red ant experiment was done by Eugene Maris, it was simply a little bridge that the ants wouldn't cross to leave their territory, but would cross when coming back. Eugene Maris's other works are explained in great detail in this book. His other experiments were more interesting. The bird experiment, done by Eliot Howard, explained the importance of a male establishing its territory before anything else; with birds and apes. It explains an error in Darwin's teachings of man, claiming that sexual tendencies are the first priority. Howard, in all his long career, never knew of a male bird, with territory, to lose a mate; nor a male bird without territory to gain one. Ardrey shows some of these same examples later in the book with gorillas.

Its stuff like this that makes me believe evolution over creation. Reading though the chapters the relationships of us to Australopithecus africanus or erectus is amazing. According to this book A africanus was a carnivorous smaller type of gorilla, erectus was a vegetarian and was bigger than africanus. Ardrey's Romantic fallacy deals with many animals that had true emotions and showed some examples. You see its all evolution. The last chapter is a laudatory approach to free speech. Ardrey is humble about agreeing with him or not, but not to ignore natural sciences brought to us. We are an unfinished revolution he says. He continues and then relates back to Africa's origin of man. The next book I will look for is where this one left off; for this left off at our stage. I would have liked him to continue and explain how all the different races formed if we came from Africa. But that may be too much for this book. What matters is after you read this book you have a clear understanding of Darwin's decent of man. You know that evolution is a long process and has many debates (like Ardrey's 24 paragraph debate of evidence that the use of weapons is a human legacy from the animal world). Anybody that is interested in the evolution of man and African anthropology, you'll want to start with this book.

For those dissatisfied with the ludicrous baggage of the world's gods and religions in seeking answers to questions on the origin of mankind and the source of human behaviour, Robert Ardrey is a good place to start. Though some of his conclusions are now outdated by modern research, no one has written with more poetry and skill on this topic than Ardrey. Throughout his quartet of books on human origins and behaviour [African Genesis is the first of the four] Ardrey shows how mankind is less of a fallen angel and more of a risen ape; and that man truly is still only a halfway house between the ape and the human being.

After a Broadway flop American playwright Robert Ardrey [author of the play Thunder Rock and the script for the film Khartoum among others] toured East and Southern Africa in the early 1960s. This was a time when astonishing fossil discoveries were being made in the Olduvai Gorge by the Leakey family and by others showing that humanoids had originated in Africa some 2 million years ago. Ardrey talked to the fossil-hunters, the palaeontologists and the anthropologists and learned all he could of the new discoveries and their implications for human origins and behaviour.

Ardrey's main thesis is that mankind was born in Africa over 2 million years ago, and for most of that two million years the species' success has been largely dependant on its ability to kill. Without that underlying hard edge the species would have vanished aeons ago along with all the others that failed to survive. And only if we take that unpalatable truth about ourselves into account can modern mankind be truly understood.

In this book Ardrey's hero is Australian-born palaeontologist Raymond Dart who discovered and named the first Australopithecus Africanus skull in the 1930s, and who correctly identified Africa as the first home of the human species and A. Africanus as a human ancestor in the face of ridicule and rejection by the scientific establishment for 30 years. The book is moving and beautifully written. If you want to understand human nature, and the possibilities for both the past and the future of the species, there is no better place to start than African Genesis.

My book is the 1966 edition by Atheneum. The theme is devoted to the right of an animal to its territory, and expresses the interesting fact that the possessor is usually the victor if and when confronted with an intruder. After reading Ardrey's work, I have watched with interest my 17 pound bundle of fluff, chase a much larger dog from our property. It was no contest. Just as the one knows his rights and the bounds within which they can be excercised, so too, does the other realize that, as an intruder, he has no right to contest that right. One needs to keep in mind that man is no less an animal than those studied by Ardrey who, although his writing is good, tends to be a bit tedious until he gets to the point of his discussion; namely, that man is no less territorial than lesser beasts. Within certain social groups this truth is more revelent than in others. Immigrants to the U.S. stake out their "turf," as they say, and woe be to the trespasser, not a few of whom have been killed. Readers who take seriously what Ardrey reveals should be able to point to areas on earth where his thesis is in full bloom, and is the cause of considerable consternation and death. I would rate the book five-star were it not that it takes awhile for the casual reader to appreicate what is being written. It is a work which every Secretary of State should read and discuss with the President and membes of his cabinet before allowing the United States to become actively involved in national affairs, which is not to suggest that the U.S. should remain aloof from affairs that deal with decency and terrirotial righteousness.

I spent many a long hour reading philosophy on the nature of property, possession and place. Also, I have spent many an hour reading the history and politics of nations for their respective histories of territorial aspirations. The mystery and problems of the human connection to particular places still eluded me.

I picked up this book at a flea market and began reading. I learned more and gained more insight into the nature of Nature's territorial inhabitants than all my previous reading. Through carefully observed case studies of animals, conservative conclusions are drawn. Light on theory, and heavy on examples of particular territorial behaviours of our fellow creatures, `The Territorial Imperative' is must read for any person interested in the way of Nature and ourselves.

When I first read this book after being graduated from Boston University as a science major, I was stunned by the depth and perception of observation by the author. It, the book, has made a profound impact on my life and scientific beliefs.

This one is definitely not Saturday morning light reading. The author does have some interesting insights into society, though.

using examples of social behavior among diferent types of animals ardrey posits that the human animal is no different in the trade offs he makes in his community to ensure the survival of himself and the species, and that much relig, philos teaching is counter to man's basic God given instincts. E.g.ardrey maintains that animal mothers will kill intruders, or even excess offspring who threaten her ability to ensure the survival of all her off spring. This is the natural law and opposition to prenatal or post natal population control is contrary to natural law. The book contains many other thought provoking facts, such as that when a community of animals see that they are becoming too numerous for the resources to survive, they will begin dying of stress related illness, or like the lemmings be driven by stress to run into the sea. a well researched and persuaive book by the author of AFRICAN GENESIS and THE TERRITORIAL IMPERATIVE."... excitingly argumentative...bound to provoke and stimulate..." (WALL STREET JOURNAL)"Every chapter is worth careful thought and consideration, every paragraph expresses the fluency of this playwright turned philosopher"(SEATTLE DAILY TIMES)

I was curious to see if anyone had read and reviewed "The Social Contract". I began reading Ardrey, Konrad Lorentz, Anthony Storr, and others in the late 60s. My background is physics so I had no preconceived notions that would cause me to reject outright the ideas expressed in the book. The Social Contract was published in 1970 and is one of the most thought-provoking and influential books that I have read. Among other things, Ardrey accurately predicts and explains our defeat in Viet Nam, and explains why housing projects are failures. This book provides a foundation for understanding what we do and why we do it; both the positive and the negative, based upon inherited traits that are common to all social animals. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an open mind who likes to think.