Editorial Review

How we raise our children differs greatly from society to society, with many cultures responding differently to such questions as how a parent should respond to a crying child, how often a baby should be nursed, and at what age a child should learn to sleep alone. Ethnopediatrics--the study of parents, children, and child rearing across cultures--is the subject of anthropologist Meredith F. Small's thorough and fascinating book Read more

Reviews (59)

Factual support for trusting your parenting instincts
I was enthralled by the information about this book, and quickly went on to read its successor, Kids. I thrive on historical and scientific fact, and this book left me with a deeper understanding of child-rearing practices from the author-anthropologist's view. As a breastfeeding mom and advocate of attachment parenting, I reference information from it a lot when people challenge issues such as nursing toddlers, feeding on cue and babywearing.

Book about parenting full of information not advice
This is definately not a how-to parenting book but an instead why we do what we do parenting book. It's written by an anthropologist regarding a number of different studies of parenting in different cultures and how they differ. How the different aspects of parenting combined w/ the different cultures have affected diseases in those countries (such as almost non-existance of SIDS in some countries, etc). How changes to their cultures affect their methods of parenting (like how moving one group of formerly nomadic hunters/gatherers to a reservation changed how long they breastfeed and who cares for the children) and topics along those lines. How humans and other animals "parent" in different ways (regarding sleeping, feeding young, etc). The only aspect of the book that bothered me was the references in the first chapter to evolution, but I'm a believer in creationism so talking about us evolving from other primates was not quite up my alley. It was a slower read since I had to use more brainpower than the average chick-lit novel, but worth it in my opinion for the knowledge gained. I found it really interesting to read how different countries comparing western culture and eastern culture and even nomadic tribes handle things with their children differently and the health impact some of those decisions have had on the children and their society as a whole.

One of the only baby books filled with actual FACTS!
Amazing book. I am very impressed with Small's citations and the deft way she weaves research into a fascinating and readable book.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    3. Life Stages - Infants & Toddlers/Infants    4. Parenting - General    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Advice on parenting    8. Parenthood    9. Social Science / Anthropology / General   

Reviews (3)

A secret power that Gays, lesbians and other minorities utilize!
As a gay man, the cover photo on this revised edition (by Chantel Regnault)
Admirable Effort
A L-I-T-T-L-E too academic for me! However, I admire the effort and would like to read more about queer families.

Families We Choose
I found Kath Westons book "Families We Choose:lesbians, gays, kinship" to be a very interesting and informative book.This book brought many issues to the table regarding the idea of a family.What is afamily?family is not solely limited to biology. This book explored theidea of kinship in lesbian and gay relationships and the family that isformed within this community.Also, the difference and the importance of"biological" family vs. chosen family and which becomes or ismore important based on acceptance.This book explores issues concerningthe lesbian and gay community in regards to raising children and creatingfamilies of their own in the nineties incorporating both biological andchosen families. In overview, The idea of kinship is culturally relativeand it is suseptible to change.The word kinship and the meaing of familyis constantly being challenged and changed to incorporate and include thosepreviously unseen. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Family Relationships    2. Gay Studies    3. Gender Studies    4. Homosexuality    5. Lesbian Studies    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Anthropology    9. Family & relationships    10. Gay & Lesbian studies    11. Literary Criticism & Collections / Gay & Lesbian    12. USA   

Reviews (2)

I Love You.
Joe Vitale sent me an email all about this amazing healing technique and it has helped tremendously! Thank you Joe and Dr. Len for sharing this with the world.
Native Hawaiian Wisdom
Ho'oponopono ("to make right")is a universal "conflict resolution/healing" method from Hawaii. The book provides a systematic overview of this system with many practical examples.It is the classic text on the subject. It should be of interest to health providers, anthropologists, sociologists, etc. Have you ever wanted to understand how to improve your relationships with or for others? This book conceptually spells it out for you, but it is a specialized skill. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Business & Economics    4. Business/Economics    5. Counseling    6. Decision Making & Problem Solving    7. Group problem solving    8. Hawaii    9. Social Group Work    10. Social service    11. methods    12. Hawaiian    13. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Encyclopedias    3. Social Science    4. Sociology   

Reviews (8)

A dissenting opinion....
In order to temper the unrestrained exuberance of the formerreviews, I think it is appropriate to point out what I believe are a couple of major shortcomings of this book. Excellent
This book is an excellent source for information on learning the bones, how to side them, and many other interesting aspects of osteology.

Complete and concise course
This is quite possibly the most useful book I have ever bought. "Human Osteology" is clear and complete. The photos and diagrams are clear and complete. The text is clear and complete. I have used this book in three separate classes and it has proved invaluable to me all three times. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anatomy    2. Anthropology - Physical    3. Archaeology    4. Bones    5. Forensic Medicine    6. Human remains (Archaeology)    7. Medical / Nursing    8. Physical Anthropology    9. Skeleton    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Dentistry / oral & maxillofacial medicine    13. Forensic science    14. Medical / Endocrinology & Metabolism    15. Palaeontology   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Architectural & Industrial    3. Cultural And Social Anthropology    4. Individual Photographer    5. Photo Techniques    6. Photoessays & Documentaries    7. Photography    8. Photography Of Specific Subjects    9. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Asia    10. China    11. Individual photographers    12. Photographs: collections   

Reviews (10)

Cuentos Chinos
This is an exellent book which I have read. Writen by a writer who is very knowlegable in World Economics and whose column in the Miami Herald I read every week. Also y watch him on TV on Sundays.

Great Summary of World Tendencies
It is a great book, written in a friendly language.Lots of statistics and facts and very concise, provide sound comparisons between Latin America and the rest of the world in terms of economics and politics.
En respuesta a MADC "mdiaz"
Estimado opinador:
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Subjects:  1. 21st century    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Comparative Economics    4. Contemporary Politics - Latin America    5. Economic Conditions    6. Foreign economic relations    7. International Relations - General    8. Latin America    9. Political Process - General    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Social Science    12. Spanish: Adult Nonfiction    13. Current Events / Political   

Reviews (3)

An excellent resource for writers, thinkers, students...
I purchased this book in hardcover a few years ago, and have found myself going back to it again and again. In writing novels, I know no better reference book than this for providing inspiration and insight. The symbols listed often have meanings far beyond what most would think. The sections on colors and numbers alone are worth the cover price.
A Dictionary of Synbols
The book as good content, but needs illustrations/photo's to make it come to life to the reader.

A sacred way of looking at the outer world
This is one of the most frequently used and most deeply pondered works of my permanent collection. It is, in my humble opinion, the best single volume on the subject of symbols and symbolism written in modern times.Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Dictionaries    3. General    4. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    5. Social Science    6. Sociolinguistics    7. Sociology    8. Symbolism    9. Anthropology    10. Social Science / General   

Reviews (20)

"hard core" book
This book is a 5 for awakening of what was Harlem NY and for a sociological book, but a 4 because it is not something you will enjoy reading 2x.It is deep, complex, and if you are a young person reading it or someone unfamiliar with the mentallity of the oppressed being an oppressor in a unfeeling world...you may have to stop for a second and take a breath.The book is well written from a sociological and anthropological perspective and it will go from your heart and mind to the pit of your stomach, but it certainly is a wake up call to the social changes and conditions of poverty, drug use & abuse and the people sucked into that world.

An Amazing Ethnography
Concidering Bourgois's choice for an ethnographic site I am suprised this book is as non jugmental as it is.While some times limited in scope due to his almost complete forcus on the crack community of East Harlem, instead of venturing out and looking at this cultural groups inpact on the greater community around it, it gives a quite amazing portrayl and discusssion of drug culture in the neighborhood.The insights he makes on the effect of streat culture and challenges many from poor innercity communities can have in negotiating the licit economy is worth note.In particular the chapters School Days and Going Ligit are wonderful peices of ethnographic annalysis and study.That he chose not to glorify or shugar coat the lives of those he spent five years living with adds much to the power and incite of this work.

Interesting, Informative, and Flawed
This book was good in that the author went down into the ghetto area of East Harlem and befriended some crack dealers and then proceeded to write an account of their life, showing the difficulties and how outright pitiful their existence really is. It becomes relatively plain that selling crack isn't a glorious life but is an outright lame existence.
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Subjects:  1. Crack (Drug)    2. Drug traffic    3. Drug use    4. Hispanic Americans    5. New York    6. New York (State)    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Drug addiction & substance abuse    11. Social & cultural anthropology    12. Social Science / Sociology / General   

Reviews (3)

Great Book for All People
I'm a gay white male and I loved this book! Collins does an amazing job presenting her compelling thesis, and I continue to thank Sociology in general for being the most daring, critical-thinking academic discipline ever. It's no surprise sociologists like Collins dare to speak out on gay rights issues (see her section on homophobia/heterosexism) - sociology is the only area of thought that consistently questions the status quo. In a day in age where so many (though by no means all!) African-American (heterosexuals) are horribly anti-gay and increasingly pro-greed/pro-capitalism, Collins stands out as a heroine for all peoples. I am still waiting for an openly gay hip-hop artist!! How cool would that be? I recommend this book to absolutely anyone. Five stars!

Inspired
Patricia Hill Collins exemplifies a practitioner's and theorist's point of view on black feminism as it relates to Africa American and our African sisters. She references critical and inspiring data and quotes from a varied repetoire of authors, historians, and philosophers. The author explains the context and format of her subject upon initial reading.This book also draws commonalities among the issues and concerns among African American women and our international sisterhood (i.e., African, Carribean, etc.,)It illustrates the social and cultural values among all groups, the commonalities among the values while focusing on the African American feminist aspect.This is a must read for any person, be it woman or not, African American or other.It brings about a social and cultural understanding that is pertinent to the "holonomy" of understanding and appreciating varied cultural, social and historical values and experiences while commencing to the building of community. Please add this title to your collection of literature.You won't be disappointed; if for nothing more than to open your world to receive another perspective.

Insightful
Collins'analysis of black feminism is an enlightening piece of literature that forces its readers to chanllenge main stream assumptions and discover the underlying mechanisms of racism and sexism in America. To create thiseffect, she uses a range of feminist perspectives form the calm subtletiesof Angela Davis to the slightly boisterous philosopy of Bell Hooks.Nevertheless, by displaying these perspectives equally Collins shows thatthe struggle for equally is not an individual struggle but one thatrequires collectively.This book is intensely thought provoking and it isguaranteed to give its readers profound insight into black feminism. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. African American women    2. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    3. Feminism    4. Feminism & Feminist Theory    5. Race relations    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. United States    9. Women's Studies - General    10. Black studies    11. Social Science / Sociology / General    12. Social groups & communities    13. USA   

Reviews (5)

A conspiracy between universities, publishers and the editor
I wish I could get contracted to slap together a 'greatest hits' of anthropological selections, supply some commentary more appropriate to World Book Encyclodpedia than a college text, and then charge $80 for it.Sign me up!The selections in this book cover most of the seminal thinkers in early anthropology, although as it progresses through time the criteria seems to grow more vague and seemingly random.There are no women covered in this massive tome other than Ruth Benedict and her dubious contribution of 'personality studies'; there is no mention even of Margaret Mead, let alone people like Mary Douglas.Some editorial choices seem to reflect the biases of the editors more than the canon of anthropology.For example, there is somewhere around 100 pages of text from Levi-Strauss, and a mere 10 or so from Clifford Geertz (the first essay in his Interpretation of Cultures).There are other glaring omissions based on strange logic (e.g. the choice to include a selection from Durkheim but NOT Marx or Engels, which is explained - weakly - in the introduction).The selections by Marshall Sahlins and Alfred Kroeber are probably some of the worst examples of their writing they could have found for an anthology, and will most likely turn students *off* from their work than endear them or make them curious for more.Furthermore, the editors simply do not provide the reader with the tools for analysis that are necessary to place these theorists in their proper historical and intellectual contexts.As mentioned above, the extremely brief, synoptic commentaries that serve as introductions to each piece could have been assembled by a high-school student surfing the internet.We are given an entirely-too-straight-forward, normative picture of the various authors' ideas, accomplishments and contributions to the field; we are not given any sense of the contentious nature of some of these ideas, how they were debated, criticized and elaborated upon both in the halls of academia and in the fieldwork process.A person could counter that this is simply not possible in an 'introductory'-type book, but I would refer them to Garbarino's rather thin volume 'Sociocultural theory in anthropology', which does an excellent job of this type of analysis.However, Bohannan and Glazer do include a few essays reprinted from long dead (and occasionally hard to find) journals like "Man" (such as Evans-Pritchard's latter-day rant against the application of pure scientific positivism to human societies).The end result is that, if you are assigned this book for a class (as I was), you really have no choice but to shell out the $75 or $80 because you will be hard pressed to collect all the various readings yourself at the university library.But if choice is actually a factor and you are simply looking for a comprehensive and lucid guide to anthropological theory, I would recommend Edmund Leach's "Social Anthropology" or Marvin Harris' "The Rise of Anthropological Theory".Meanwhile, if you must have a reader of the original, primary sources, this book will suffice, but there really ought to be more substance here -- espeically for the price.

A must for anthropologists
I'm an anthropology major in my senior year. One of my classes was Anthropological Theory. This book was the main reading. It is concise. It offers a multitude of anthropological view points that are the foundations of modern anthropological thought. Excellent!
This is an EXCELLENT book for those struggling with the history of cultural anthropology. I highly recommend it to any cultural anthropology student who wants an easy to read description of the important figures and movements in CA. It really spells it out. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Social Science    5. Anthropology    6. Social Science / Anthropology / General   

Reviews (5)

The Italian Way
Secured Packaging.Prompt.I would do business with them again.

Interesting read for those that want to understand Italian culture
In the introduction the authors tell us that the purpose of the book is to provide snapshots of daily life.If you have ever been to Italy you know that they have a different notion of what it means to live.Every visit that I have every made to Italy there has been a general strike that has taken place.The first time I visited Italy this fact mystified me.Now, I just know that this is what happens and I don't let it bother me.
You can live without it, but...
This is NOT a must read for the traveler to Italy. If you have disposable income and are planning a trip to Italy and have a few concerns about culture, buy it. My experience was that it didn't make a difference to my experience of Rome and Florence, but it certainly helped me feel more comfortable that I wouldn't offend anyone.
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Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Europe - Italy    3. Italy    4. Social life and customs    5. Travel    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Customs    8. Reference works    9. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY    10. Travel / Europe / Italy   

Reviews (8)

too rosy of a picture
I am going to quote Aihwa Ong - Antrhopology Professor from UC Berkeley who criticized "Modernity at Large" since I cannot state it any better than her:
An ambitious attempt, and some provocative thinking
Appadurai's book, Modernity at Large, offers quite a few tools to help us think about that big fuzzy thing called "globalization."He coins quite a few words to describe multiply-constituted networks of culture - ethnoscapes, mediascapes, ideoscapes, financescapes, and technoscapes.All are different ways of looking at the global cultural flows that we're trying to describe, and all are strongly influenced by perspective, overlapping, and rapidly shifting (though the term doesn't quite capture the instability and mutability of global cultural flows).
A waste of time
Obtuse and without meaning in the real world.Appaduarai needs to set foot on real soil and realize the world is not created, nor can it be defined behind ivy walls.
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Subjects:  1. 1950-    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Civilization, Modern    4. Culture    5. Ethnicity    6. Mass media    7. Sociology    8. Anthropology    9. International economics   

Reviews (11)

OK but who's going to read this ?
I have a PhD in biochemistry (meaning I can understand a reasonable amount of jargon) and hoped that with this book I'd be able to understand what modern developmental biology (in particular developmental genetics, "evo-devo", etc.) is about, but this book bored me to death.There is no continuum, no logical progression in the teaching.When you reach the end of a chapter you've forgotten what it was about.I admire the central concept and the work but, frankly, as a book it's completely missed.It is not a textbook, it is not a popularization book, it's a 600+pages small print dissertation.Who wants to read that ?Who has the time to go to the library and check the details of any of the hundreds of referenced articles (all of them are treated only superficially) ? Not students, not professional scientists (their time would be better spent reading review articles), not laypersons.Who then ?

New ways of thinking about Biology
I think that Mary Jane West-Eberhard is trying to formulate a new Shyntesis in Biology, she is trying to include Development in Neo-Darwinism. Her book makes the difference in the role that gives to phenotype, every biologist needs to read it to express his/her own opinions. Really deserves to be read.

jump starting a revolutiion
Darwin developed his theory of evolution without knowing much about the mechanisms of heredity. These mechanisms were rediscovered in the 1900's as part of the science of genetics. By the 1930's a school of evolutionary thinkers came to the realization that Darwin's theory could be further developed by recasting it in terms of population genetics. The resulting synthetic theory of evolution has ruled mainstream biology ever since. But genetics has not stood still in the meantime. The rise of molecular biology has made possible a new discipline, evo-devo which seeks to explain how the genes control development. Evo-devo has developed a new approach to evolution. While the synthetic theory tended to see evolution as a matter of the loss of old genes within a population or the fixation of new ones, evo-devo has found that large parts of the genome are conserved over vast periods of time and shared by widely divergent phyla. Evolution has produced diversity by modifying the mechanisms which control the expression of these ancient genes. New ideas are now required to explain how this kind of diversity evolves. West-Eberhard proposes that genetic control mechanisms can be exposed to selection by the phenotypic adaptation of organisms to new kinds of environmemt. This phenotypic adaptation ultimately drives evolution. The germ of this idea had been put forward by J. Baldwim more than one hundred years ago but neither Baldwin or anybody else knew about evo-devo and the idea had little influence. Now its time may have come.
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Subjects:  1. Adaptation (Biology)    2. Developmental biology    3. Evolution (Biology)    4. General    5. Life Sciences - Biology - Developmental Biology    6. Life Sciences - Ecology    7. Life Sciences - Evolution    8. Life Sciences - Genetics & Genomics    9. Phenotype    10. Science    11. Science/Mathematics    12. Biological anthropology    13. Evolution    14. Genetics (non-medical)    15. Life Sciences | Evolutionary Biology    16. Science / Evolution   

Reviews (1)

Decent book but needs more pictures
I had this as my main text for a class at Foothill college and it was a relatively easy read if you use the glossary. Their could have been more pictures of the items discussed and I would recommend to any teacher thinking of using this book to gather some more higher quality pictures of the items discussed for the student to look at. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Biology, Life Sciences    7. Social Science / Archaeology   

Reviews (4)

Avoid at all costs!!!!!!
This book is chock full of hatred and inaccuracies. I was forced to read this book for a class and was disgusted from page one. How a teacher can assign this horror for a diversity class is beyond me. If you want indoctrination, then by all means read this nonsense.

Race Class and Gender: An Anthology
this book had no writting in it if it was not new it was like new

Excellent Reading
This book was amazing in its scope and varying perspectives on issues concerning "minority" Americans. Both editors and incredible and I personally am really looking forward to reading Patricia Hill Collins' lastest book, Black Sexual Politics. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Gender Studies    3. Minority Studies - Race Relations    4. Race And Ethnic Relations    5. Social Classes    6. Social Science    7. Social Stratification    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Social Science / Sociology / General    11. Social groups & communities   

Editorial Review

In a global economy, it is crucial for business peopleto be sensitive to cultural differences. And although the best reason for doing so may be ethical, it's great for business as well! This is an invaluable book for "doing well while doing good" in your intercultural relations, covering the protocols of appointments, business entertaining, greetings, forms of address, gestures, dress, and gifts in 60 of the nations you're most likely to be doing business. Some interesting excerpts:Read more

Reviews (27)

Avoiding the cultural faux pas...
Today's business world is such that you are very likely to have working relationships with global business partners.And you *should* know that "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".But what exactly is that?Terry Morrison and Wayne A Conaway bridge some of that information gap with the book Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands.This is one of those books that could help you close a big deal (or avoid killing one).
A resource for me
Written for the international business traveler, this book was a great resource for me as characters in the Marketplace novels came from around the world. For my fans who keep asking me for "the protocol:" hey, start here and you tell me.

Dissapointing!
60 countries, and the only country in the entire continent of Africa the authors wrote about was Egypt? C'mon. While the authors do, in a similar compilation published after this one, include South Africa (the only other country in Africa included) and a few other countries, it is still a disgrace that books and compilations such as this one ignore the importance of proper business ettiqute in countries such as Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, and Tanzinia and do nothing more than perpetuate falsehoods, myths and fears about doing business in the aforementioned African countries and many others. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Etiquette    4. Business communication    5. Business/Economics    6. Communication    7. Corporate culture    8. General    9. International - General    10. International Business    11. Manners And Customs    12. Negotiation in business    13. Business communication & presentation    14. Customs   

Reviews (4)

cultural materialism is it
Foundational. This book is the core of cultural materialist theory. I lays out in simple language a theory for describing and explaining the complexity that is human behavior and thought. Many have railed against cultural materialism for being too simplistic, for "na�vely" arguing for evolutionary, universal patterns throughout human societies. Harris spent his life fighting for a scientific approach to anthropology and this was his masterwork towards that goal.
A Highly Relevant Must-Read Book for Environmental and Social Justice Advocates
Marvin Harris' book, Cultural Materialism, is a must read for any student in the social sciences who intends to address issues of war and peace, environmental decline, and social justice. Written in clear, understandable language, the theory presented is compelling and fully relevant to the most pressing issues of today. The updated edition offers an introduction by Allen and Orna Johnson that "examines the impact that the book and theory had on anthropological theorizing." Compared to today's muddled and often unfathomable social theories-Cultural Materialism provides a practical and useful research approach relevant to any social issue and usable by those working for social change. Don't be put off by the title, the book and theory fully address all aspects of culture and in an evolutionally perspective. I particularly recommend the book and theory to those who work on environmental and social justice issues. Conservation biologists seeking to explore sociocultural issues, especially when addressing conservation planning implementation problems, would be well served appreciating the Cultural Materialist perspective.

One of the most important books of the 20th Century
This book will eventually be recognized as one of the most important of the 20th Century - but not until the 21st Century. In spite of what the previous reviewer said, it does indeed deal with male supremacy - andCultural Materialism's explanation for male dominance is something thatfeminists should learn and understand, if they want to do something to endmale supremacy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Culture    3. Ethnology    4. Marxist anthropology    5. Philosophy    6. Social evolution    7. Sociology    8. Non-Classifiable    9. Sociology & social issues   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Physical anthropology    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Biological anthropology    7. Social Science / Anthropology / General   

Reviews (1)

This is a great book!
This book really illuminated a lot for me. It's a great history of stereotyping, and while I was reading it everyday I would see current newstories and television shows that related to this book, and that this book really helped illuminate for me. Ewen and Ewen are great writers as well, they tell their story very grippingly. I would definitely reccomend this for anyone who's interested in knowing how we got to where we are in the history of race/religion/etc., and anyone who's just looking for a good, intelligent read. Ewen and Ewen have done a fantastic job. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Cultural And Social Anthropology    4. Education / Teaching    5. Equality    6. General    7. Multicultural Education    8. Race    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. Stereotype (Psychology)    12. Education / Multicultural Education