Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are (1993) is a non-fiction book by the late Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...

 and his wife, Ann Druyan

Ann Druyan

Ann Druyan is an American author and producer specializing in productions about cosmology and popular science. She made substantial contributions to the PBS documentary series, Cosmos, and was the wife of late scientist and educator, Carl Sagan.-Film career:Along with Carl Sagan and Steven Soter,...

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Cover Blurb

World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a thrilling saga that starts with the origin of the Earth. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits — self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics — are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.

Sagan and Druyan conduct a breathtaking journey through space and time, zeroing in on critical turning points in evolutionary history, and tracing the origins of sex, altruism, violence, rape, and dominance. Their book culminates in a stunningly original examination of the connection between primate and human traits. Astonishing in scope, brilliant in its insights, and an absolutely compelling read, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.

Chapters

• Introduction
• Prologue: An Orphan's File

1. On Earth as It Is in Heaven
2. Snowflakes Fallen on the Hearth
3. "What Makest Thou?"
4. A Gospel of Dirt
5. Life is Just a Three-Letter Word
6. Us and Them
7. When Fire Was New
8. Sex and Death
9. What Thin Partitions...
10. The Next-to-Last Remedy
11. Dominance and Submission
12. The Rape of Caenis
13. The Ocean of Becoming
14. Gangland
15. Mortifying Reflections
16. Lives of the Apes
17. Admonishing the Conqueror
18. The Archimedes of the Macaques
19. What Is Human?
20. The Animal Within
21. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
    • Epilogue
    • Notes
    • Permissions Acknowledgements
    • Index