Ishmael

DanielQuinn, Ishmael (ISBN 0553379658 (amazon.com, search)) http://www.booksense.com/product/info.jsp?isbn=0553379658

Framed as a novel about a despairing idealist and an unexpectedly intelligent ape, this book attempts to explain why we think it makes sense to act in ways that so damage each other and the ecosphere we depend on. E.g. reinterprets Genesis (specifically the fall, Cain & Abel) as the story other people told about self-righteous, murdering, early agrarians (they must think they've eaten of the gods' wisdom about good and evil!)

It also won the Turner Fellowship Award, the largest prize ever given to a single work of fiction.

See: Wiki:IshmaelBook, http://www.ishmael.com/

See also the sequels, MyIshmael, TheStoryOfB?, and Quinn's other works, including the graphic novel TheManWhoGrewYoung? which touches on the same themes.