PROLOGUE: AT THE AIRPORT: An airport scene
Why study traditional societies?
Types of traditional societies
Approaches, causes, and sources
A small book about a big subject
PT. I: SETTING THE STAGE BY DIVIDING SPACE. Chapter 1. FRIENDS, ENEMIES, STRANGERS, AND TRADERS: A boundary
Mutually exclusive territories
Friends, enemies, and strangers
Traditional forms of trade
PT. 2: PEACE AND WAR. Chapter 2. COMPENSATION FOR THE DEATH OF A CHILD: An accident
Other non-state societies
Defects in state civil justice
Advantages and their pride
Chapter 3. A SHORT CHAPTER, ABOUT A TINY WAR: The Dani War
Chapter 4. A LONGER CHAPTER, ABOUT MANY WARS: Definitions of war
Forms of traditional warfare
Similarities and differences
Effects of European contact
Warlike animals, peaceful peoples
Motives for traditional war
PT. 3: YOUNG AND OLD. Chapter 4. BRING UP CHILDREN: Comparisons of child-reading
Weaning and birth interval
Responses to crying infants
Chapter 6. THE TREATMENT OF OLD PEOPLE: CHERISH, ABANDON, OR KILL? The elderly
Expectations about eldercare
What to do with older people
PT. 4: DANGER AND RESPONSE. Chapter 7. CONSTRUCTIVE PARANOIA: Attitudes towards danger
Just a stick in the ground
Chapter 8. LIONS AND OTHER DANGERS: Dangers of traditional life
Unpredictable food shortages
Seasonality and food storage
Aggregation and dispersal
PT. 5: RELIGION, LANGUAGE, AND HEALTH. Chapter 9. WHAT ELECTRIC EELS TELL US ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION: Questions about religion
Functions and electric eels
The search for causal explanations
Religion's function of explanation
Organization and obedience
Codes of behavior towards strangers
Measures of religious success
Changes in religion's functions
Chapter 10. SPEAKING IN MANY TONGUES: Multilingualism
The world's language total
Geography of language diversity
Traditional multilingualism
Are minority languages harmful?
How can we protect languages?
Chapter 11. SALT, SUGAR, FAT, AND SLOTH: Non-communicable diseases
Genes, environment, and diabetes
Pima Indians and Nauru Islanders
Benefits of genes for diabetes
Why is diabetes low in Europeans?
The future of non-communicable diseases
EPILOGUE: AT ANOTHER AIRPORT: From the jungle to the 405
Advantages of the modern world
Advantages of the traditional world