Family structures are the unconscious engine of history. From this groundbreaking insight, Emmanuel Todd retells the story of humanity: from the early Homo sapiens living in small families, through the great cultures of antiquity with their increasingly complex extended families, to the return of Homo americanus to the nuclear family of the Stone Age. Anyone seeking to understand the state of humanity at the beginning of the 21st century should read this lucid book by the great French thinker. Western goods and lifestyles penetrate even the remotest corners of the world, yet we are far from a global uniform culture. Emmanuel Todd demonstrates how different family systems have spread since the Stone Age, profoundly shaping mentalities to this day. He describes the dynamics of American society with its primitive nuclear families.