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"...

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...

Based on over a decade of research, a powerful, moving work of narrative nonfiction that illuminates the little-known world of the anexos of Mexico City, the informal addiction treatment centers where mothers send their children to escape the violence of...

A beautifully illustrated history of Indigenous tattooing practices around the worldTattooing within Indigenous communities is a time-honored practice that binds the tattoo recipient to a deeply felt collective history. More than mere decoration, tattoos...

A bold new synthesis of paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and anthropology that overturns misconceptions about race, war and peace, and human nature itself, answering an age-old question: What made humans so exceptional among all the species on...

Why human biology is far more expansive than the simple categories of female and maleBeing human entails an astonishingly complex interplay of biology and culture, and while there are important differences between women and men, there is a lot more...

Corpse Magic examines beliefs about vengeance the slain magically enact on their killers, focusing on lethal violence in Colombia and the United States. Corpse Magic is a response to the global ubiquity of violence. In this bracing new work, the...

An enthralling tour of the world’s rarest and most endangered languagesLanguages and cultures are becoming increasingly homogenous, with the resulting loss of a rich linguistic tapestry reflecting unique perspectives and ways of life. Rare Tongues tells...

In Quest of the Hero makes available for a new generation of readers two key works on hero myths: Otto Rank's Myth of the Birth of the Hero and the central section of Lord Raglan's The Hero. Amplifying these is Alan Dundes's fascinating contemporary...

Living On centers around the unprecedented mobilization of mental health professionals in the wake of a massive earthquake that struck western Turkey in 1999--a disaster that left more than 20,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands of residents...

Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering...

A top scholar reveals the most complete picture to date of how early human speech led to the languages we use today  The emergence of language began with the apelike calls of our earliest ancestors. Today, the world is home to thousands of complex...