Summary of James Carroll's Jerusalem, Jerusalem

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 The ancestors began to cooperate and hunt down animals, which they would then eat. They developed patience and control over their desires, and began to share food with others. They developed skills of collaboration and communication.

#2 The first hunters were not so primitive that they were indifferent to the emotional consequences of killing other living things. They understood themselves as observers of death, perpetrators of death, and eventual victims of it.

#3 There is evidence that the deaths of band members and tribal relatives were not treated indifferently. When one of the group stopped breathing, companions put stones on his or her body so that hyenas would not scavenge it.

#4 Humans are constantly trying to make sense of their experiences and fill in the gaps in their knowledge. This is what defines us as humans, and it is what makes us constantly anxious. We are never at peace with ourselves, and we cannot be at peace with one another.