Is warfare a uniquely human behavior? Do you know how many human races there are? Have you ever wondered how evolution can be both a fact and a theory? How can we know about the distant past if we weren't there to witness it? How did we become who we are as a species, and what does that mean for other species and the rest of the planet? The Human Experiment: Origins and Evolution of Humanity touches on these and other big questions, and provides students with an introduction to what anthropologists know about the origins of the human condition. Topics include the study of anthropology; science, myth, religion and pseudoscience; evolution; common misconceptions about race; why anthropologists study nonhuman primates; and the emergence of biologically modern humans. Students learn about culture as human adaptation, peopling of the New World, the origins and consequences of food production, civilizations, and global warming. Designed to help students better understand the evolution of humankind, The Human Experiment is an ideal textbook for introductory anthropology courses. It provides a concise and accessible overview of the key developments in human prehistory and examples of how the knowledge of our shared past is continually being updated as new information is discovered.

"This is one of the more fascinating travel works I have read on Mexico, and I have read many. It provides an important addition to the scanty literature on the Tarahumara and enriches the material available on this important group. I would also think this book would be fascinating to the general reader." --Joseph W. Whitecotton, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma In 1930, anthropologists Robert Zingg and Wendell Bennett spent nine months among the Tarahumara of Chihuahua, Mexico, one of the least acculturated indigenous societies in North America. Their fieldwork resulted in The Tarahumara: An Indian Tribe of Northern Mexico (1935), a classic ethnography still familiar to anthropologists. In addition to this formal work, Zingg also penned a personal, unvarnished travelogue of his sojourn among the Tarahumara. Unpublished in his lifetime, Behind the Mexican Mountains is now available in print for the first time. This colorful account provides a compelling description of the landscape, people, traditions, language, and archaeology of the Tarahumara region. Abandoning the scientific detachment of the observer, Zingg frankly records his reactions to the people and their customs as he vividly evokes the daily experience of doing fieldwork. In the introduction, Howard Campbell examines Zingg's writing in light of current critiques of anthropology as literature. He makes a strong case that although earlier anthropological writing reveals unacceptable cultural biases, it also demonstrates the ongoing importance and vitality of field research.