REVIEW Morgan, Lewis Henry, Ancient Society, 1877.

In its short History on Earth, the Humanity has created and experienced many civilizations; empires and kingdoms, many tyrants and elites. From being mere bands of hunter-gatherer societies to being settled and practice agriculture and to witness the evolution of self, family and state, the human species has reached a point of being, what we like to call, a 'Modern Human Society'. Historians, anthropologists, scholars, scientist etc believe that the human race began its existence at the very bottom of the scale and since then has been continuously moving upwards along with the elements of inventions, discoveries, family, property, government, culture all developing simultaneously. If we read it like this, it seems that within a very short span of time the human society has evolved or is evolving rapidly, but obviously, this is not the case. There are various questions which come to mind when reading about the human past. What are the reasons and the factors which led to the formation of this, 'Modern Human Society'? Or How Lewis Henry Morgan sees the human progress from savagery through barbarism to civilization? What circumstances caused the humans to become advanced and civilized in a short period of time? How humans, within a few centuries evolved from near primitive life to computers, cars, space travel, government etc.? With these questions in mind, Lewis Henry Morgan presented a book called, 'Ancient Society. The United States Anthropologist, Lewis H. Morgan develops theory of the three stages of human progress, i.e., from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization. It is believed that Friedrich Engels, having being influenced by Morgans work, wrote the book, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. The Book, 'Ancient Society' is considered an important emblem in social anthropology where Morgan defined social evolution and kinship organization in extreme detail. The enormous amount of inventions and discoveries and history of the institutions of family, property and government complement the progress made by human society from the primitive stage to beginnings of civilization. This progress was achieved through, as Morgan says, "the gradual evolution of their (humans) mental and moral powers through experience, and of their protracted struggle with opposing obstacles while winning their way to civilization.1 The book is divided in 4 parts. Part one of the book deals with
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. Morgan, Lewis Henry, Ancient Society

inventions and discoveries in relation to seven ethnical periods. Part 2 with the growth of the idea of the government, part 3 and 4 describe the growth of the ideas of the institutions of family and property respectively. The dominant idea of Morgan's thought is that of progress. Morgan, through the book, aims to present stages of social evolution and associated social institutions (family, government, property).