Evolution and culture

The new world of tomorrow the world that will result from the struggle of the underdeveloped nations to take their place in the sun-will be the direct result of forces traceable through all of man's his tory.
This book overhauls our concept of man his past and future. No tool in the arsenal of science can match the clarifying power of the concept of evolution-properly understood. The authors, the help of this concept, provide a new and unified interpretation of the evolution of species, of man, and of human society. What is more, in the light of this knowledge they offer a striking reinterpretation of what the role of the United States may be in the conflict among the societies of East and West.
The evolution of life is closely paralleled by the evolution of man's culture. Scientists have too long ignored this lesson. To see man from the perspective of evolutionary theory is to see him and his culture as an organic whole a living creation struggling for growth. This approach goes be yond the sterile cultural relativism that has troubled science; in its place the authors discover evolutionary laws that have not hitherto been formulated. Here is a reaffirmation of the faith that eighty years ago moved E. B. Tylor, one of the great pioneer anthropologists, to declare: The study of man and civilization is not only a matter of scientific interest, but at once passes into the practical business of life. We have in it the means of understanding our own lives and our place in the world, vaguely and imperfectly it is true, but at any rate more clearly than any former generation. The knowledge of man's course of life, from the remote past to the present, will not only help us to forecast the future, but may guide us in our duty of leaving the world better than we found it.