A Brief History of the Last 2½ Million Years

How does our history explain what we believe?

Spanning 2.5 million years of human history, A Brief History of the Last 2 ½ Million Years is a bold, sweeping exploration of the three milestones that shape our evolution. The most important of which is religious belief.

Anthony O'Keeffe unpacks the causal relationship between the arrival our of species, the birth of ritual and the creation of our gods, tracing a lineage from primitive tool use and early cave art, to organized religion and the philosophical questions that continue to define us today.

This book draws together the remarkable discoveries we've recently made into our ancient past, to delve into why we believe, and what we believe in. And to explore how those beliefs then shaped the subsequent development of law, morality and the civilizations that followed.

Drawing on biological anthropology, philosophy, archaeology and evolutionary science, O'Keeffe builds a compelling case for viewing religious belief as the transformative milestone in human evolution.

For readers of philosophy, human history and religion alike, this is a provocative and illuminating read that challenges assumptions and invites renewed reflection on what it means to be human.

Get a new perspective on our oldest questions.