Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage

by Steven Le Blanc, Katherine E. Register, Steven A. LeBlanc

With armed conflict in the Persian Gulf now upon us, Harvard archaeologist Steven LeBlanc takes a long-term view of the nature and roots of war, presenting a controversial thesis: The notion of the "noble savage" living in peace with one another and in harmony with nature is a fantasy. In Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage , LeBlanc contends that warfare and violent conflict have existed throughout human history, and that humans...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312310897
• ISBN13: 9780312310899
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

More like Frequent Battles I think

The title seems to be more biased than the book. The book actually does not claim that all peoples have always been in "constant battles", he does not try to avoid talking about known non-agressive and peaceful peoples at all. He is debunking the "peaceful past" myth quite well, but when I read the book, I get a picture about "mostly warlike" past instead of "constantly warlike" one. I tend to agree that there was lots of wars and violence in the past. I am more suspicious about LeBlancs claims about constant "overexploitation of the environment" of the prehistoric and modern humans. LeBlank does not appear to be very focused on the subjects of his chapters. Instead he likes to change the subject constantly between prehistoric foragers, chimpanzees and world wars, gulf war and so on. In most of time, it is interesting reading, sometimes is his point hard to follow. For example, he argues that modern "warlords" are actually pre-state tribal governments as they have existed about thousands of years (I agree with that very much) and then next sentence brings in collapse of Yugoslavia as an example (Does he think that Slovenia was a "chiefdom" ? What has a conflict between parts of modern, bureocratic state to do with pre-state tribal conflicts ?).

Judicious Reappraisal of Earlier Human Societies

From the above reviews of LeBlanc's "Constant Battles," we can clearly see that the "noble savage" interpretation of pre-history engenders strong emotional responses, more in the vein of current TV political shows where name calling is the norm and less in the vein of academic discourse where there should be an appeal to facts and clear reasoning. In fact, in approaching this subject, it might be best to try and put both emotions and political views, if not aside, at least in the background. LeBlanc is quite clear in stating his own academic history with this topic, the need for this and other studies on the topic, his methodology and his copious citations from peer reviewed scholarship. In addition, he points out that a very large portion of previous scholarship on early human societies assumed a great deal about the pacifist nature of these societies in the face of often clear but nearly universally overlooked evidence as to the bellicose nature of humans and our simian relatives, the chimpanzees. To these ends, then, LeBlanc provides readers with an amply researched and argued thesis about the ubiquitous nature of warfare among human societies that is often triggered by a given group exceeding their own territory's "carrying capacity." In fact, this thesis is one that is echoed by Jared Diamond in his "Collapse" where Diamond provides clear cut evidence that much contemporary war is caused by environmental distress squeezing out carrying capacity. Btw, one reviewer refers to the "Human Resource Area Files" when its proper title is, in fact, the "Human Relations Area Files." You know, lads, if you are going to muster evidence, at least get the names of your witnesses correct and do not lie by saying that LeBlanc ignores peer reviewed literature when he actually cites it throughout this useful volume. I, as a professor who teaches early art and culture, find this book a refreshing addition to my course material. But, then again, I would expect this from LeBlanc, who has a Ph.D. in Archeology and is currently at Harvard.

Extremely Informative

This very well researched book destroys the extreme environmentalist fable that a peaceful noble primitive existence occurred before industrialization destroyed it. The author demonstrates that without the modern scientific and technological resources environmental despoilation, at least eventually, occurred. This degraded environment along with sustained population growth led to the primitive warfare that was per capita more deadly than modern warfare. Primitive life was not some disneyfied tale of harmony with nature, love, and peace, but nasty, brutal, and often short. This book should be read by all. It is a real eco myth buster. The book is one of the best anecdotes for modern primitivism.

A very good book

Steven LeBlanc of Harvard makes a great case against the popular mythology that pre-historical man somehow lived at peace with his environment while simultaneously using only what he needed to live and no more; that is, without overusing the resources of his surrounding environment. He cites his vast experience as an archeologist to show that man has always been at war with other men, and has always "trashed" the environment. The myth has heretofore been that man only became warlike with the rise of capitalism which is supposed to have made men exploitative toward other men while concommitantly making him a despoiler of the environment in pursuit of greater profits; profits being a dirty word. BTW, anyone reading "Genome" by Ridley would be disabused of these notion immediately. However.........If you're an anti-politically-correctness guy like myself, you'll howl with laughter at these ridiculous theories of those in archeology who are slaves to funding at the government trough where these theories of history predominate; to purposely push a political agenda advocating international one-world socialism. This book should be required as a grouping of books to be studied along with "Genome", "no bone unturned" by Benedict, "the skeptical environmentalist" by Lomborg, "Bias" by Bernard Goldberg, and countless others which handily refute the distortions fomented on unsuspecting students by teachers with a far-left neo-communist agenda. If you're interested in how man evolved from monkeys, and made it out of Africa, you'll also love this book. Read Jane Goodall's books on the chimps in Gombi, and anything by Franz DeWall. Utterly fascinating!

Ignoble savages

Do not read this book if you are wedded to the idea that we humans once lived in harmony with our natural environment. LeBlanc argues that we were slaughtering each other over scarce resources long before the invention of agriculture or the advent of complex societies. Although not the first to pooh-pooh the idea of the peaceful, noble savage, he is one of the first to do so using prehistoric archaeological evidence. LeBlanc makes a strong case that virtually all ancient societies collapsed from an endless cycle of overpopulation, resource depletion, and warfare. My favorite example, among many, was Troy. Archaeologists had a hard time finding it because Homer's description placed it near a bay. The Greek islands were not always the barren, desolate rocks that you see today. They were turned into stone by human activities: the elimination of forests, non-sustainable farming, and overgrazing (which continues to this day.) The bay that once fronted Troy was filled in by silt from the denuded hillsides centuries ago leaving the ruins stranded many miles from the sea. The author argues that overpopulation, followed by resource depletion and warfare, was more than just common; it was inevitable. Given the option to do so, people eventually went after their neighbor's resources. LeBlanc points out that there is a strong tendency for researchers to whitewash their archaeological findings. I have to agree with him. Years ago, when I first read of the bronze age iceman mummy discovered in the Alps, the researchers had suggested that he was probably a peaceful sheepherder who had been caught in an unexpected blizzard. The polished bronze ax found in his possession was too soft to cut down trees. It must have had religious or ritual significance. That was all before they found the arrow in the iceman's back. In addition, his knife has the blood of four other individuals on it. He also has defensive wounds on his arms. LeBlanc sees the iceman's bronze artifact for what it really is-a deadly battle-ax. Considering how rare prehistoric human remains are, I am astounded that so many of them show signs of violent death at the hands of other humans. This is exactly the point LeBlanc is making. This book has a few technical problems that should have been resolved by its editors. For example, the word infanticide is used ten times in just three paragraphs on pages 48 and 49. We are told more than once that Nanook of the North starved to death. We are also told at least seven different times that, according to the fossil record, about 25 percent of all males died at the hands of other males. In the end, LeBlanc's findings beg the question: are we genetically locked into this cycle of overpopulation, environmental degradation, and violence? LeBlanc falls victim to his own whitewash when he tries to answer it. Believing that warfare is ultimately the result of conflict over scarce resources, he optimistically concludes that with modern technology and knowledge we