In Scientific American, Jesse Bering writes at length about the cultural origins and significance of the handshake, what controlled experiments have determined about the personalities reflected in different handshakes, and the gesture's evolutionary similarities with those of other primates:
Link | Photo: US House of Representatives
In chimpanzees, he points out, dominant apes will oftentimes extend an open hand to distressed subordinates as a sort of calming gesture; and in some chimp communities, individuals will clasp hands overhead as they manually groom each other. In humans, in contrast, it’s most often the subordinate who initiates the handshake, particularly toward dominant people they wish to impress.
Link | Photo: US House of Representatives
...Now I have to learn the Social Art of The Handshake- In such a way that I will not seem weak, sub-ordinate or ordinate and all those other things, but just right...