Author:Desmond Morris
A must-read for anyone who has ever wondered why people do what they do, from the popular author of The Naked Ape.
This study concerns the city dweller. Morris finds remarkable similarities with captive zoo animals and looks closely at the aggressive, sexual and parental behaviour of the human species under the stresses and pressures of urban living.
‘Compelling and absorbing...Morris is concerned with the tension between our biology and our culture, as it is expressed in power, sex, status and war games’ New York Times
Compelling and absorbing...Morris is concerned with the tension between our biology and our culture, as it is expressed in power, sex, status and war games
—— New York TimesHaving startled, amused, and in some cases infuriated his fellow-men by his bestseller The Naked Ape, Desmond Morris now proceeds to contemplate Homo sapiens as he has transformed his environment. He has offended some people with entrenched views, but he has made millions wonder about themselves. Exceedingly well written, with never a dull moment
—— ObserverI defy you to stop reading it
—— Liverpool Daily PostAn amazing book... A book that definitely gives Wolfe the edge on the nonfiction novel
—— The Village VoiceEvery word seems placed with a care and a skill of contrivance... A major journalistic contribution to the future analysis of our own and America's strange period of this century
—— GuardianYou only had to look at him… or read such books as The Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff to know that Tom Wolfe was like no other
—— John Pye , The ScotsmanJournalism, it is said, is the first draft of history. Nobody exemplifies the dictum better than Wolfe, the cultural observer and social critic par excellence
—— Mick Brown , Daily TelegraphEffortlessly, elegantly, Tom Wolfe bestrode both fiction and non-fiction… a style at once objective, subjective, and hallucinatory
—— Andy Martin , Independent[Tom Wolfe’s] gleeful use of punctuation and italics, along with entertaining asides and neologisms that often quickly cemented themselves into the English lexicon, helped Wolfe stand out from other journalists
—— Guardian[Wolfe] made literature fun and bores don’t like fun
—— Freddy Gray , The Catholic HeraldA day-glo book, illuminating, merry, surreal!
—— The Washington PostTom Wolfe is a groove and a gas. Everyone should send him money and other fine things. Hats off to Tom Wolfe!
—— Terry SouthernNot simply the best book on the hippies, it is the essential book... The pushing, ballooning heart of the matter... Vibrating dazzle!
—— The New York TimesAn American Classic
—— Newsweek