Culture wars and the global village : a diplomat's perspective /

Coon, former US Ambassador to Nepal and son of anthropologist Carleton Coon, applies cultural evolution theory to today's conundrum of global problems (population, environment, nuclear arms, etc.) complicated by local group differences. Some of his ethnographic examples (from South Asia, the Mideast, Africa) provide interesting insights from his father's field studies and his own diplomatic experience. The notion that humanity, while biologically one, is culturally many is occasionally well illustrated, as in his argument against either automatic convergence or divergence because of "human nature." On the other hand, Coon's trumpeting of Dawkins's "meme" or "altruism" theory seems tendentious, his positing of five levels of altruism (with nations at four and humanity at five) seems patronizing, and his analysis of common global problems seems extremely superficial. Hence this intriguing attempt at a new kind of diplomat's memoir seems poorly executed in comparison with the work of a professional anthropologist of similar inclination. e.g., Marvin Harris. General collections. T. J. Knight; Colorado State University