A Natural History of Human Emotions

Why does a tribal member in Papua, New Guinea, when shown a picture of a scowling Caucasian face, recognize the feeling expressed as anger? While the many details of our lives, from the way we dress to what we eat, vary greatly across geographic distances, all humans are born with the same basic templates that allow us to identify and react to human emotion. Using Charles Darwin's survey of emotions as a starting point, Stuart Walton's "A Natural History of Human Emotions" examines the history of each of our core emotions -- fear, anger, disgust, sadness, jealousy, contempt, shame, embarrassment, surprise, and happiness -- and how these emotions have influenced both cultural and social history. We learn that primitive fear served as the engine of religious belief, while a desire for happiness led to humankind's first musings on achieving a perfect utopia. "A Natural History of Human Emotions" is a provocative examination of human feelings and a fascinating take on how emotions have shaped our past.