Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Click for full-size.
PREHISTORY: The Making of the Human Mind (Modern Library Chronicles)
by Colin Renfrew
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine in VG+ dust jacket
- ISBN 10
- 0679640975
- ISBN 13
- 9780679640974
- Seller
-
Milton, Vermont, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
NY: The Modern Library, 2008. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine in VG+ dust jacket. Full gray cloth hardcover looks new, tightly bound, perviously read with gentle wear, clean and unmarked. Light wear to dust jacket, not price-clipped.
Experienced full-time used & antiquarian bookseller since 1994. Images may be added by request. Questions welcome.
Experienced full-time used & antiquarian bookseller since 1994. Images may be added by request. Questions welcome.
Synopsis
In Prehistory, the award-winning archaeologist and renowned scholar Colin Renfrew covers human existence before the advent of written records--which is to say, the overwhelming majority of our time here on earth. But Renfrew also opens up to discussion, and even debate, the term "prehistory" itself, giving an incisive, concise, and lively survey of the past, and how scholars and scientists labor to bring it to light. Renfrew begins by looking at prehistory as a discipline, particularly how developments of the past century and a half--advances in archaeology and geology; Darwin's ideas of evolution; discoveries of artifacts and fossil evidence of our human ancestors; and even more enlightened museum and collection curatorship--have fueled continuous growth in our knowledge of prehistory. He details how breakthroughs such as radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis have helped us to define humankind's past--how things have changed--much more clearly than was possible just a half century ago. Answers for why things have changed, however, continue to elude us, so Renfrew discusses some of the issues and challenges past and present that confront the study of prehistory and its investigators. In the book's second part, Renfrew shifts the narrative focus, offering a summary of human prehistory from early hominids to the rise of literate civilization that is refreshingly free from conventional wisdom and grand "unified" theories. The author's own case studies encompass a vast geographical and chronological range--the Orkney Islands, the Balkans, the Indus Valley, Peru, Ireland, and China--and help to explain the formation and development of agriculture and centralized societies. He concludes with a fascinating chapter on early writing systems, "From Prehistory to History." In this invaluable, brief account of human development prior to the last four millennia, Colin Renfrew delivers a meticulously researched and passionately argued chronicle about our life on earth, and our ongoing quest to understand it.From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- North Country Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 22440
- Title
- PREHISTORY: The Making of the Human Mind (Modern Library Chronicles)
- Author
- Colin Renfrew
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine in VG+ dust jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing
- ISBN 10
- 0679640975
- ISBN 13
- 9780679640974
- Publisher
- The Modern Library
- Place of Publication
- NY
- Date Published
- 2008
- LCCN
- 2008000069
Terms of Sale
North Country Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
North Country Books
Biblio member since 2008
Milton, Vermont
About North Country Books
General used, collectible and antiquarian books. Also paper, ephemera and posters. I am now in my 14th year of full-time book selling.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Frequently asked questions
This Book’s Categories
Signed Books
Why settle for an ordinary copy of your favorite book when you could have an autographed copy? Find signed books here.
Positive Representation Matters
Books transmit cultural values and can shape the views of society. Learn more about the history of American literature in Collecting Children’s Literature by Writers and Educators of the Harlem Renaissance.
