Pride, Prejudice and Honor Killings
The first book I read on my new Kindle was Pride and Prejudice. I hadn't read it before but I'm happy to report that Miss Austen did a pretty good job of capturing at least the spirit of the Keira Knightley movie - except for the latter's cheesy American ending. The book got me thinking, though, about the problem of "honor" killings. From a Darwinian point of view the honor killing seems profoundly unnatural - killing one of your own offspring just at the point of reaching her reproductive capacity seems very anti-fitness. I recall recently reading somewhere that a spate of honor killings in India was a new phenomena, related mainly to the disintegrating power of the traditional family organization. Family control of daughters is apparently a key instrument of social power. There weren't any honor killings in P&P, to be sure, but flighty Lydia's running off with the rascally Wickham was a similar type of social earthquake. For her to be living with him...