Tattersall, Curator at the American Museum of Natural History, successfully "aim[s]...to paint as full a portrait as possible of these capable and fascinating human precursors and the world they lived in...." This beautifully illustrated volume is rich with photographs of original fossils, discussions about the evolution and and life-style of Neanderthals and how archeologists interpret the available evidence, and thought-provoking reflections on what the story of the Neanderthals tells us about our own place in nature.