This review of Tales of the Ex-Apes: How We Think About Human Evolution by biological anthropologist Jonathan Marks (Univ. of Calif. Press, 2015), can assist students with the discussions about human nature in the current terms of biological anthropology, human exceptionalism, and the cultural determinism of scientific terms and ideas. Says Marks: “My point is precisely that nobody can say ‘You’re being political/ideological/biased and I’m not.’ Given the subject [humans, apes, anthropology], it is all bio-political, and that is what we need to acknowledge — this is not like fruit-fly genetics.”
