French colonization dismantled Algerian names. Under the occupation that began in 1830, not only were Algerian towns and streets renamed in honor of French figures, but personal names were forced to follow French conventions and norms. Colonial...

From teddy bears and Winnie-the-Pooh to Smokey Bear, Yogi Bear, and Cocaine Bear, American popular culture has been fascinated with real and fictional bears for more than two centuries. Bears are ubiquitous, appearing in advertisements, as logos for...

Fear of a Dead White Planet asks: How does one study when the planet is on fire? The More Worlds Collective challenges the contemporary rush to planetary technofixes for environmental emergency. Instead, it tracks how such planetary-science frames are...

In this seminal, founding work of political anthropology, Pierre Clastres takes on some of the most abiding and essential questions of human civilization: What is power? What is society? How, among all the possible modes of political organization, did we...

Thucydides' classic work on the history of the Peloponnesian War is the root of Western conceptions of history—including the idea that Western history is the foundation of everyone else's. Here, Marshall Sahlins takes on Thucydides and the conceptions of...

Concerned with the origins of capitalism and the conditions that accompanied its birth, this work argues that capitalism is more than an economic system: it is a culture that affects not just the material but also the social, familial and even spiritual...

In considering how anthropologists have chosen to look at and write about politics, Joan Vincent contends that the anthropological study of politics is itself a historical process. Intended not only as a representation but also as a reinterpretation, her...

Starting with the premise that Europe was made by its imperial projects as much as colonial encounters were shaped by events and conflicts in Europe, the contributors to Tensions of Empire investigate metropolitan-colonial relationships from a new...

'This is scholarship at its very best. A brilliant book in every respect' Barry Cunliffe A lifetime's study brings an authoritative perspective to one of the great unknowns in human history - the origin and language of the Indo-Europeans. Today the...

"With a language disappearing every two weeks and neologisms springing up almost daily, understanding the origins and currency of language has never seemed more relevant. In this charming volume, expert linguist David Crystal proves why the story of...

A major, eclectic work of extraordinary scope and unprecedented vision, The Three Worlds is much more than a study of the contemporary Third World. It examines the constituents of development—cultural as well as political and economic—throughout the...

Text: English, German (translation)

War in the Tribal Zone, the 1991 anthropology of war classic, is back in print with a new preface by the editors. Their timely and insightful essay examines the occurrence of ethnic conflict and violence in the decade since the idea of the "tribal zon"...

How envy, spite, and the pursuit of admiration influence politicsWhy do governments underspend on policies that would make their constituents better off? Why do people participate in contentious politics when they could reap benefits if they were to...

News Media And Pundits Too Frequently Perpetuate The Notion That Latinos, Both U.s.-born And Immigrants, Are An Invading Force Bent On Destroying The American Way Of Life. Leo R. Chavez Challenges The Basic Tenants Of This Assumption And Other Myths Of...

From a brilliant, young, Harvard-trained anthropologist and contributor to The New Yorker comes a fascinating investigation into the spiritual practice of shamanism, from its beginnings to the present moment, for readers disaffected with organized...

Using cultural anthropology to analyze debates that reverberate throughout the human sciences, George E. Marcus and Michael M. J. Fischer look closely at cultural anthropology's past accomplishments, its current predicaments, its future direction, and...

An anthropologist's quest to understand the deep social and political divides in American society, and the everyday strategies that can overcome them. In 2016, Anand Pandian was alarmed by Donald Trump's harsh attacks on immigrants to the United States,...