Melvin Joel Konner (born August 30, 1946) is an American anthropologist who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and of Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University.
Biography Raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, Konner has stated that he lost his faith at age 17. He studied at Brooklyn College, CUNY (1966), where he met Marjorie Shostak, whom he later married and with whom he had three children. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1973 and a M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1985.
From 1985 on, he contributed substantially to developing the concept of a Paleolithic diet and its impact on health, publishing along with Stanley Boyd Eaton,Eaton SB, Eaton SB 3rd, Konner MJ. "Paleolithic nutrition revisited: a twelve-year retrospective on its nature and implications." Eur J Clin Nutr. 1997 Apr;51(4):207-16. and later also with his wife Marjorie Shostak and with Loren Cordain.
Konner has argued that women make better leaders than men.
Selected bibliography Konner, Melvin J. (2019) Believers: Faith in Human Nature. W. W. Norton & Company. Konner, Melvin J. (2015) Women After All: Sex, Evolution, and the End of Male Supremacy. W. W. Norton & Company. Konner, Melvin J. (2010) The Evolution of Childhood. Cambridge, MA : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Konner, Melvin J. (2009) The Jewish Body. Knopf. Konner, Melvin J. (2003) Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews. New York : Viking Compass. Konner, Melvin J. (2002) The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit, 2nd ed. (original 1982) New York: Times Books. Konner, Melvin J. (1993) Medicine at the Crossroads: The Crisis in Healthcare. Pantheon Books. Konner, Melvin J. (1990) Why the Reckless Survive . . . and Other Secrets of Human Nature. New York: Viking. Konner, Melvin J. (1987) Becoming a Doctor: A Journey of Initiation in Medical School. New York: Viking.
See also Paleolithic diet Hunter-gatherer Stanley Boyd Eaton, researcher Loren Cordain, researcher Staffan Lindeberg, researcher
References
External links Melvin Konner's blog on anthropology and human nature Melvin Konner's blog on Jewish subjects