Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend .Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother'sBoyfriend by Barbara OakleyReview by: By Jason   ZinserThe Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 83, No. 4 (December 2008), p. 396Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/596237 .

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rate chromosomes carried by our ancestors,but which are now joined. Subsequent chap-ters take on progressively more complex patternvariation in transposable elements, mitochon-drial DNA, genes, and gene families. Most ofthese examples focus on comparisons betweenhumans and the other primates, gradually as-sembling a scaffold of evidence that, in systemafter system, the human genome shows evidenceof both its ancient origins and its close allianceswith those of the great apes.

Although easy to read, Relics of Eden is notlight. In many ways, the chapters are reminis-cent of Nature’s News and Views. For this reason,the book will probably have its greatest im-pact on advanced undergraduate and graduatestudents, although it is certainly worth read-ing even if you already know a lot about thetopic. One feature of the volume that is especiallyenjoyable is that most chapters stand on their own,with each introducing and fleshing out a differentmolecular evolutionary process. This makes for en-joyable reading, but also suggests that the bookwould make an excellent supplement to a graduatecourse or journal club.

Stephen Wooding, McDermott Center for HumanGrowth & Development, University of Texas South-western Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

BEHAVIOR

Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, En-ron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother’sBoyfriend.

By Barbara Oakley. Amherst (New York): PrometheusBooks. $28.95. 459 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-1-59102-580-1. 2007.

From Darwin on, great effort has gone into under-standing how moral (or altruistic) behavior couldemerge from an evolutionary process. BarbaraOakley turns this question on its head by askinghow natural science can explain the “successfullysinister” among us. By “successfully sinister,” or“Machiavellian,” she means those who tend tobend their moral compass to fit their goals, andwho use their charisma to achieve those goals.Individuals who exemplify this nefarious behaviorrange from Hitler, Stalin, Milosevic, Ceausescu,and Mao Zedong (who is responsible for the mostdeaths), to her own sister and the family of ParisHilton. Oakley’s combination of historical andpersonal storytelling is captivating, but it raisesthe question of whether there is an underlying

psychological or biological explanation for thewide range of individuals and behavior. Can thebackstabbing coworker be explained similarly to amurderous and brutal despot? All of us are anadmixture of nature and nurture; genetics plusenvironment. Although noting the role that theenvironment contributes to creating the success-fully sinister, the author emphasizes the supposedgenetic correlates of their behavior.

Oakley’s discussion encompasses the psycholog-ical, biological, and evolutionary roots of Machia-vellian behavior. Especially nice is her discussionof the neurophysiology and behavioral character-istics of a range of disorders, such as borderlinepersonality disorder and psychopathy. The linkbetween brain and moral behavior, as she ex-plains, is the role that emotions play in moraldeliberations. Less good, however, is her discus-sion of the evolutionary roots of evil. She uses thefact that some despots, such as Genghis Khan, hada prodigious number of offspring as evidence ofthe selective advantage of Machiavellian behavior.However, this sort of evidence does not seem con-vincing; the case linking behavior to genetics is notstrong enough.

This work of popular science writing strikes theright tone, digesting a wide range of scientificmaterial while telling a crackling good tale. Butthere are dangers in discussing the evolutionaryroots of evil. Using evolution as a tool to under-stand the evil tendencies of individuals may inad-vertently imply a social Darwinian justification forevil. In fact, Oakley argues that many traits, such asnarcissism, are common in the “successfully sinis-ter” and often contribute to their effectiveness inachieving their success, such as in dictators, CEOs,and politicians. Alternatively, it may seem that inorder to be moral we have to shed our evolved,innate nature, whatever that may be. Or, moretroublingly, one might infer that there is nothingthat can be done to eliminate evil in the world,since it is rooted in our genes. To be sure, Oakleydoes not make these connections, but she does nottake care in distancing herself from such thoughtseither.

Jason Zinser, Philosophy, University of North Flor-ida, Jacksonville, Florida

Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Uni-versal Sense of Right and Wrong.

By Marc D. Hauser. New York: HarperCollins.$27.95. xxi � 489 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 0-06-078070-3. 2006.

Quite early in the construction of his theory, Dar-win realized that he had to explain the distinctivefeatures of the human animal to forestall the re-turn of the Creator. For most British intellectuals,

396 Volume 83THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY

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