Genetics and the Search for Modern Human Origins

"This textbook provides a good introduction to the field of human populations genetics for people lacking a genetics background.... I hope that his book will ultimately encourage more students to enter this exciting field." (Trends in Genetics, Vol. 17, No. 9, September 2001)

"...controversies...grounded in a solid college-level introduction to how the genetic code and evolution account for genetic diversity." (SciTech Book News, Vol. 25, No. 3, September 2001)

"I found Relethford s discussion of the recent Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA findings to be the most cogent explanation I have read to date.... I recommend his book to anyone interested in modern human origins." (Linda Wolfe, Anthropology News)

"Relethford writes...in a lucid and engaging manner. He dispassionately examines the major controversies surrounding modern human origins and clearly identifies the ways in which the genetic data impinge on the predictions of the explanatory models....[T]his book will appeal to the general science reader, as well as being suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in Biological Anthropology." (American Journal of Human Biology)

"...lucid and engaging...enjoyable to read...will appeal to the general science reader...suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses..." (American Journal of Human Biology, Vol. 14, No. 4, July/August 2002)

"...an accessible guide through the models and the data...will be a popular recommended text..." (Heredity)

The modern human origins debate is finally illuminated with the first clear and understandable discussion of the genetic arguments on both sides. Relethford is a key player in this debate, and he brings to it a sorely needed perspective, placing the exciting laboratory results in the theoretical frame that explains them, and doing it in manner that the rest of us can grasp. It's good writing, because it's good thinking, and Relethford is to be congratulated for his efforts in clarifying and explaining the complex issues that underlie the conflict between Multiregional evolution and the Eve Theory.--Milford H. Wolpoff, Paleoanthropology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

"[The author] has presented a deeply thoughtful and provocative assessment of our understanding of modern human origins. I think it takes the whole debate forward by a quantum leap." --Rosalind Harding, University of Oxford