This book is an examination of the roles of men and women and the rise of the feminist movement. The author states: "It is time for all of us, male and female alike, to set this important and massive 'media revolution' into the context of the human animal's long struggle to improve its lot and to take control of its destiny." The Descent of Women is a challenge to excesses of the revolutionary zeal of some writers of the feminist movement. In the course of illustrating the thesis that feminist thinking has yet to mature, particularly if it is to reach balance, self-criticism, and fairness to men, the author introduces the secondary thesis that the feminist movement should stop blaming all men for a long suffering history of women. Men have suffered, too, as the human animal emerged from a moral swamp in which sexual selection has played an important role. The author sees the feminist movement as a contribution to our expanding self-consciousness as a species and, in his criticism of radical feminism, seeks a richer future, not a return to an oppressive past. This book will stimulate controversy and further reflection on one of the most difficult issues of contemporary society.