For anthropologists, it was the e-mail heard 'round the world. Irons had reason to be concerned. Chagnon is celebrated for his ethnographic studies of the Yanomamo, which began in 1964. But he contributed to another discipline, known variously as evolutionary psychology, Darwinian anthropology, or sociobiology. Like the original, vitriolic e-mail from Turner and Sponsel, the counterattack was based on early galleys of the book, some key details of which were changed in the published version.
Lives are at stake.
Chagnon is no stranger to controversy. Chagnon promises to respond in The Noble Savage, a book to appear next summer. Tooby, for his part, did not want to wait that long. He put the case starkly to reporters. Others went to work, too.