Big gods : how religion transformed cooperation and conflict

Examines how the belief in gods has lead to cooperation and sometimes conflict between groups. The author also looks at how some cooperative societies have developed without belief in gods.
Abstract: How did human societies scale up from small, tight-knit groups of hunter - gatherers to the cooperative societies of today - even though anonymity is the enemy of cooperation? How did organized religions with "Big Gods" - the great monotheistic and polytheistic faiths - spread to colonize minds in the world? This title deals with these questions.