Alison Jolly believes that biologists have an important story to tell about being human – not the all-too-familiar tale of selfishness, competition, and biology as destiny but rather one of cooperation and interdependence, from the first merging of molecules to the rise of a species inextricably linked by language, culture, and group living. This is the story that unfolds in Lucy's Legacy, the saga of human evolution as told by a world-renowned primatologist who works among the female-dominant ringtailed lemurs of Madagascar.
"[Jolly's] method is to offer a host of lively facts to grip the imagination..Her book is full of wry, ironic humour, as well as knowledgeable remarks about the way science works [...] She has pulled off the most elegant of scientific popularisation tricks: being light without being lightweight."
– Adrian Barnett, New Scientist
"[A] charming, eclectic and sensible book [...] [Jolly's] genius in this informative, satisfying book is to strip away dogma and politics that have shrouded evolution, to reveal a theory Darwin would recognize as his own. 'There is grandeur in this view of life,' he wrote, and here it is seen marvelously."
– Ellen Ruppel Shell, New York Times Book Review