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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for a much maligned book.
Review: I pondered purchasing this book for quite a long time based on some of the negative views written on this page about this book. After reading several other books on this topic I took the plunge. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found some of the reviews about the book to be simplistic or myopic in thought. I ponder how many of the bad reviews were written by paleontologists who disagree with C. Stringer. Being a meteorologist, I found nothing offensive. I strongly agreed with his concept of hard scientific data and quantifying numbers to prove points.No doubt, this book was written with latter evidence, including the DNA evidence that allows more specific conclusions. I found the lineage and concepts in line with those put forward by Tattersal and others suggesting no real bombshells in this book. The book reads very well and is generally well written. The book portrays what most up-to-date books on this topic cover in a concise and consistent manner. The treatment of Neanderthals is good and in no way is negative. It is tragic that they did not survive much beyond about 30 kyrs ago. Anyone interested in current thinking on human evolutions should read this book. Finally, the title of this book is well taken; we are all Africans based on our evolution. Too bad we all don't realize who and what we all are!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for a much maligned book.
Review: I pondered purchasing this book for quite a long time based on some of the negative views written on this page about this book. After reading several other books on this topic I took the plunge. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found some of the reviews about the book to be simplistic or myopic in thought. I ponder how many of the bad reviews were written by paleontologists who disagree with C. Stringer. Being a meteorologist, I found nothing offensive. I strongly agreed with his concept of hard scientific data and quantifying numbers to prove points. No doubt, this book was written with latter evidence, including the DNA evidence that allows more specific conclusions. I found the lineage and concepts in line with those put forward by Tattersal and others suggesting no real bombshells in this book. The book reads very well and is generally well written. The book portrays what most up-to-date books on this topic cover in a concise and consistent manner. The treatment of Neanderthals is good and in no way is negative. It is tragic that they did not survive much beyond about 30 kyrs ago. Anyone interested in current thinking on human evolutions should read this book. Finally, the title of this book is well taken; we are all Africans based on our evolution. Too bad we all don't realize who and what we all are!
Rating: 
Summary: VERY INFORMATIVE
Review: In "African Exodus", Chris Stringer, the leading proponent of the Out of Africa view of human origins, shows himself to be obsessed with Neandertals. He is obsessed with showing how absolutely different, incapable, and, ultimately "not human" they were. Whether one believes him or not depends on what one knows about Neandertal cultural capabilities. Apparently Stringer is unaware of or is deliberately ignoring an increasing body of archaeological evidence that suggests that "archaic" humans like Neandertals had quite sophisticated cultural capabilities, and that these capacities, including language, may extend back to *at least* 400,000 years ago. This is bad enough, but Stringer makes things worse. In an attempt to paint all multiregionalists as unrepentant racists, he links them with the theories of Carleton Coon, and tries to demonstrate that Coon was an unrepentant racist. He does this by describing an incident in the Harvard men's room, which seems to this reviewer like nothing more than an exercise in bad taste. Finally, Stringer tries to make himself look heroic by describing his rescue of one of the Krapina fossils he was studying in Croatia. The problem is, the incident he describes sounds awfully similar to one the paleoanthropologist Fred Smith described iin Trinkaus and Shipman's "The Neandertals"(1993). Stringer has undoubtedly done some fine work, and raised some worthwhile questions, but in his zeal to link multiregionalism to racism, he has also left out a lot of valuable material. One doesn't even get an idea of what multiregionalism is from his book. Although the book doesn't take much time to read, and is written in a style easily accessible to lay people, I would not recommend it. He is too biased, and there are too many lapses of either taste or judgment to make it a worthwhile addition to the libraries of those who are interested in human evolution.
Rating: 
Summary: a too particularistic outlook on the Anthropogenesis.
Review: Theory that mankind has evolved in relatively near past,and that it colonised the world from africa,exterminating local populations,disagree with a wealth of evidence that sugest some living human populations are product of prodigous and variable forms of interbreeding,operationalised over enormous time span,with all darwinian factors-mutation and selecton,giving rise to distinct and changing populations.We must not dismiss idea of poligenetic origin of populations within mankind,because(this is digression from actual book)it is same reasoning as "crime will stop if we believe that we are all equaly handsome,smart and physicaly strong".Exporation of Racial diferencies is extremely important for medicine,history,archaeology,sociology and a wealth of social and exact sciencies.Truly,an idea that Humankind emanated in a small geographic nucleus and then suddenly spread in all possible directions,exterminating indigenious populations made-up from Neanderthals and Neanderthaloids,contrandict with the fact that among modern human races,characteristics representative of processes such as admixture and amalgamation with this above-mentioned earlier populations,are strongly sugestive of more complex diachronical expressions of anthropogenetic forms. The "Mitochondrial Eve" theory is by far rejected now.Speaking of Coon's theories,it is unjust not to mention the fact that his books always contained extremely unbiased view on this matter-unlike some of his contemporaries.Anthropology does not give rise to racism in its "hooliganic" form.At best,Author's thesis can be substantied with two trends,observed from findings of classic human paleontology-existance of emigrating population(s) with "astenic" metro-morphologic qualities and complex process of amalgamation with autochtonuos population-first in North Africa,then in Eurasia and Americas.Somethink like "Wolkewanderung" from single centre for paleolithic is highly unlikely.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent in part, marred by political agenda & slander
Review: This work provides an excellent summary of the "Out of Africa" model that first burst upon the world in the famous time magazine "New Eve" cover in 1987. Stringer, a paleonotologist, was one of the first--althought not <i>the</i> first as he claims-- to propose that every single person (outside of Africa) now alive is the descendant of a small group of humans who left Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. Until the advent of "DNA" reverse transcriptase technology (commonly known from its use in criminal investigations) Stringer's theory was just one more interpretation of mute bones and stones. The revolutionary work of Mary Ravullo, amongst others, now proves that all humans are indeed descended from a tiny population (probably 2-3000 "breeding" females) 200,000 years ago. The DNA evidence shows that there is far more genetic diversity <i>within</i> Africa than in the rest of the world. Until the DNA discoveries, Stringer was pretty much out in the wilderness against the paleontological orthodoxy that the "races" of mankind had evolved from populations of Neanderthal and <i>H. erectus</i>. Despite the counter-intuitive nature of this "multi-regional" hypothesis, the skimpy fossil record seemed to support it. The DNA evidence, however, is so overwhelmingly solid it seems unlikely to ever be overthrown; unlike the fossil evidence, in which conclusions are much like figure skating scores, highly subjective and open to endless debate. When sticking to the science of bones and blood, McKie and Stringer produce solid scientific writing for the non-Academic. However, they severely mar the book with character assassination of Stringer's paleontological rivals, a puerile political agenda and environazi propaganda. Instead of analysizing the work of said rivals, the authors stoop to gossipy anecdotes to smear them. It was totally unnecessary and a good editor wouldn't have let them get away with it. Eliminating these distractions and a clearer focus on the science (and its conclusions) would have made this book a classic. Another grievous, and, again, totally unnecessary addition, are the authors ignorant and slanderous remarks about American politics and American conservatives. To a British or Continental audience, these observations are probably accepted at face value. To anyone conversant with the American political scene, (e.g. page 246) their remarks are baseless, slanderous and make the authors look ridiculous. They also fling assaults on the book <i>The Bell Curve</i> distorting, with slash and burn attacks, what Herrenstein and Murray actually wrote; they create a caricature and proceed to attack it instead of the real book. Finally, the concluding chapters launch into a litany of the Far Left's enivronmental myths and fantasies--conjuring up everything from the Global Warming hoax, to the racist "noble savage" protrayal of American Indians, to the man as the "killer" ape "destroying" the planet. Not surprisingly, little proof, beyond the usual ritual incantations of the environut creed, is offered. The authors stray way beyond their ken in many areas and their ignorance and prejudice are embarrasingly on display. Without these flaws, the authors fluent and easily read prose would have made this book a landmark work. With them, it is reduced to a mishmash of scientific fact and calumny that ultimately hurt Stringer's cause far more than they advance it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent in part, marred by political agenda & slander
Review: This work provides an excellent summary of the "Out of Africa" model that first burst upon the world in the famous time magazine "New Eve" cover in 1987. Stringer, a paleonotologist, was one of the first--althought not the first as he claims-- to propose that every single person (outside of Africa) now alive is the descendant of a small group of humans who left Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. Until the advent of "DNA" reverse transcriptase technology (commonly known from its use in criminal investigations) Stringer's theory was just one more interpretation of mute bones and stones. The revolutionary work of Mary Ravullo, amongst others, now proves that all humans are indeed descended from a tiny population (probably 2-3000 "breeding" females) 200,000 years ago. The DNA evidence shows that there is far more genetic diversity within Africa than in the rest of the world. Until the DNA discoveries, Stringer was pretty much out in the wilderness against the paleontological orthodoxy that the "races" of mankind had evolved from populations of Neanderthal and H. erectus. Despite the counter-intuitive nature of this "multi-regional" hypothesis, the skimpy fossil record seemed to support it. The DNA evidence, however, is so overwhelmingly solid it seems unlikely to ever be overthrown; unlike the fossil evidence, in which conclusions are much like figure skating scores, highly subjective and open to endless debate. When sticking to the science of bones and blood, McKie and Stringer produce solid scientific writing for the non-Academic. However, they severely mar the book with character assassination of Stringer's paleontological rivals, a puerile political agenda and environazi propaganda. Instead of analysizing the work of said rivals, the authors stoop to gossipy anecdotes to smear them. It was totally unnecessary and a good editor wouldn't have let them get away with it. Eliminating these distractions and a clearer focus on the science (and its conclusions) would have made this book a classic. Another grievous, and, again, totally unnecessary addition, are the authors ignorant and slanderous remarks about American politics and American conservatives. To a British or Continental audience, these observations are probably accepted at face value. To anyone conversant with the American political scene, (e.g. page 246) their remarks are baseless, slanderous and make the authors look ridiculous. They also fling assaults on the book The Bell Curve distorting, with slash and burn attacks, what Herrenstein and Murray actually wrote; they create a caricature and proceed to attack it instead of the real book. Finally, the concluding chapters launch into a litany of the Far Left's enivronmental myths and fantasies--conjuring up everything from the Global Warming hoax, to the racist "noble savage" protrayal of American Indians, to the man as the "killer" ape "destroying" the planet. Not surprisingly, little proof, beyond the usual ritual incantations of the environut creed, is offered. The authors stray way beyond their ken in many areas and their ignorance and prejudice are embarrasingly on display. Without these flaws, the authors fluent and easily read prose would have made this book a landmark work. With them, it is reduced to a mishmash of scientific fact and calumny that ultimately hurt Stringer's cause far more than they advance it.
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