The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History - Hardcover

Through stories spanning all of recorded history, anthropologist and popular-science writer Fagan skillfully recounts how many civilization-advancing innovations before the Industrial Revolution involved human management of animals. (Booklist)

Fagan (Emeritus, Anthropology/Univ. of California, Santa Barbara; The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels, 2013, etc.) brings consummate skill to this frequently horrifying study of humanity's interaction with animals . . . His analysis, however, is sound, the product of an accomplished archaeological and anthropological background. Though reminding us of the cruelties still visited upon animals and insisting that we respect them anew--not merely as pets or idealized creatures of the wild--Fagan offers no resolutions to our conflicting attitudes toward them, but his compelling, cohesive book calls for further enlightenment. (starred review, "Best Books of 2015" Kirkus)

The result of Fagan's exhaustive research is thought provoking and at times heartrending. The author skillfully traces the arc of human-animal relationships from ancient partners in survival to the master-servant dynamic we still see today despite the efforts of animal-rights activists . . . History, anthropology, and cultural studies enthusiasts will enjoy this excellent, intelligent book, as will animal lovers of all stripes. (starred review Library Journal)

In The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History, Brian Fagan shares the fascinating stories of the most transformative of those relationships. Long before FedEx, it as the unassuming donkey that brought about globalization, delivering food, luxuries and commodities to a developing world--although overnight delivery was probably out of the question. (Santa Barbara News Press)