First published in 1998, Baby Wars was the second title in a controversial trilogy of books which placed the past, present and future of human reproduction under the microscope of evolutionary biology. Baby Wars itself was focused on parenthood and family strife, and attracted such international interest that it was translated into eight different languages. This digital English edition, with a new Preface by the authors, was released in 2017 to celebrate the book's upcoming 20th anniversary.
Neither childhood nor parenthood is easy and to a greater or lesser extent babies mean wars in all families. Some of these wars are subtle and physiological, hidden from the conscious mind. Others are obvious, even aggressive, and plain for all to see. Even the most tranquil of families can experience conflict, and for some life can become virtually a running battle. But, as Baby Wars shows, there is an evolutionary rationale behind all of this disharmony. It even emerges that without many of the conflicts most people would gain less than they do from their reproductive and family experience, a paradox that forms one of the major themes of the book.
The book's format, a hallmark of the whole trilogy, is first to dramatize each topic as a fictionalized case-study, then to use the perspective of evolutionary biology to interpret the behavior shown by the drama's main characters. Topics covered range from the commonplace (such as conception campaigns, pregnancy sickness, labor pains, sleepless nights, and grandparenthood) to the illegal (such as incest and child abuse).
Apart from the new Preface and an occasional minor correction or clarification the 20th Anniversary edition is a faithful digital version of the original paperback. Yet, despite the years since it was written, this release of Baby Wars is as relevant now to the understanding of the evolved drivers of reproduction and parenthood as it was at the time of the first edition. None of the scientific interpretations in the original book have been superseded in the interim. Nor, naturally, has there been any change in those instincts of men, women and children that are at the book's heart. For anybody who wishes to understand why family life and strife has evolved to be as it is, rather than how many would like it to be, the answers can be found in Baby Wars' pages.
