A Word From The Author
Richard E. Evans
A TIMELY INVESTIGATION
Will More Women in Government Mean Less War?
Throughout history, nearly all the people who ordered wars and fought in wars were men, not women. Why Men Make War explains the bio-science behind that distinction–from small differences in the brain, to huge differences in aggression-promoting hormones – all leading to specific traits that prompt women to act for peace, instead of war.
The book takes off with a timely discussion of what makes a man – 10 traits that have defined masculinity for thousands of years. It then documents the painful frequency of wars (28 U.S. wars since 1775) and men’s obsessive drive for ever-more-lethal weapons, now intensified by the power of artificial intelligence.
Ample evolutionary and biological evidence indicates the world will have less war when women have as much political power as men. The book closes by outlining a program to help women achieve that goal.
“The broad range of scientific grounding that Evans brings to his subject makes for a very compelling reading experience…A thought-provoking consideration of the plague of violence in human society…with an appealing lack of demagoguery. – Kirkus Review
IN DEPTH
The Fuel of War
Observers and scholars like Carl von Clausewitz and the English historian, John Keegan, make valid points about the causes of war. The usual suspects – greed, sociopathic ambition, fear of foreign action, competition for resources – often act as catalysts; but in the end, it appears that war is not to be understood by abstract or statistical analysis.
Instead, policymakers need to realize that the engine of war is fueled by the biological nature of men. With rare exceptions, it is men who make war and men who fight wars. Not women. The reasons flow mainly from the natural selection that accompanied the male history of killing large animals with primitive weapons. Judging by fossil finds and other evidence, we went from cooperatively killing prey to cooperating to kill other species of Homo, as well as other humans.
Taking all these factors into account, the logical inference is that men operating without women–or without enough women–are strongly inclined to war, even when war is not necessary for national security. To offset the lingering male propensity for war, the world needs women to share political power with men on an equal basis.
