Calculating Chiefs offers a unique approach to understanding human violence by combining the rigor of computer simulation with a detailed analysis of violence and warfare in pre-contact Pacific Island societies. Why do many small societies have an egalitarian ethic? How do different leadership styles affect violence within and between polities? What mechanisms have evolved to minimize violence in small societies and how can these lessons be applied to our modern industrial world? After a review of leadership, violence, and warfare in the remarkably diverse cultures of the Pacific, Stephen...