Hunting: the pursuit that shaped humanity

This sweeping history of hunting is the archaeologist and anthropologist Brian Fagan’s final book, helped into publication by his friend and collaborator Nadia Durrani. Fagan was an extraordinarily prolific writer, and his ability to communicate with popular audiences is much in evidence here, though Fagan emphasises that this was a particularly difficult challenge. To make sense of hunting in a smartly paced survey is a major achievement. This is particularly welcome given that ‘man the hunter’ narratives continue to (mis)shape the popular understanding of hunting and human nature. Fagan stresses the significance of the Neolithic pivot from hunting to animal husbandry, after wh