Cat Tales

A History

£30.00
£30.00

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The first book to explore from an archaeological perspective the incredible and improbable history of our relationship with cats, from fearsome foe to purring pet

For as long as cats have coexisted with humans, they have been feared, revered and respected. They appear as dynamic hunters in Palaeolithic carvings and cave paintings; were venerated as gods in ancient Egypt; and still have the power to fascinate and frighten us, as the popularity of Joe Exotic, the self-styled Tiger King, shows.

How did we go from hunting, and being hunted by, cats to keeping them as pets in our homes? In this wide-ranging and captivating history, archaeologist Jerry Moore charts their journey from the African plains of the Pleistocene through the first human settlements in the Near East and on to ships setting sail for the Americas. What emerges is a complex picture of mutual domestication: cats chose to live with us as much as we chose to live with them, and as our growing cities bring the world’s wild cats into closer contact with humans, we must learn new ways to live together.
Extent: 272 pp
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 76
Publication date: 2025-09-11
Size: 23.4 x 15.3 cm
ISBN: 9780500029534

Press Reviews

Cat Tales is an eloquent, yet learned, technically accurate excursion into the feline world that is destined to become a classic. Read parts of the book to your own cats, and they will ignore you, even if they meow at the beautiful, well-chosen pictures. But you’ll learn a great deal about your own beasts. I look at my cats with different eyes after reading Jerry’s entertaining excursion into cattery
Brian Fagan, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History

Cats, large or small, wild or domesticated, have played a significant role in human history and have fulfilled multiple roles as: fearsome deities, emissaries between worlds, protectors against vermin, and beloved companions. Moore’s eminently readable book explores the wonderful world of felines, tracing their relationship with humans worldwide, from when we were their prey to the present, when, as any cat-owner knows, we are enslaved by them, catering to their every whim
Salima Ikram, Distinguished University Professor, American University in Cairo



About the Author

Jerry Moore is an archaeologist, writer, editor and professor of anthropology at California State University Dominguez Hills. His books
include The Prehistory of Home (2012, winner of the Society for American Archaeology Popular Book Award) among many others. He has written for Archaeology and Berfois magazines and his
writings have been translated into French, Spanish, Han Chinese, Turkish and Croatian. Moore lives in Long Beach, California, where he
provides food service to two cats.

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