New from the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs (""A masterpiece of science writing."" Washington Post) and ""one of the stars of modern paleontology"" (National Geographic), a sweeping and revelatory history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of the extraordinary family tree that led to us. National Bestseller. Top 10 Nonfiction of 2022- Kirkus. Best Science Books of 2022- The Times Uk We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages- the mammals. Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals. Indeed humankind and many of the beloved fellow mammals we share the planet with today lions, whales, dogs represent only the few survivors of a sprawling and astonishing family tree that has been pruned by time and mass extinctions. How did we get here? In his acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs hailed as ""the ultimate dinosaur biography"" by Scientific American paleontologist Steve Brusatte.