Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History

The sixth edition of this market-leading introduction to anthropological theory offers 43 seminal essays from 1860 through the present day, including six new essays from Kroeber, Benedict, Spradley, Wardlow, Ortner, and Gomberg-Munoz. Accessible introductions and commentary provide necessary background information and historical context of each article. This edition also features a new timeline and recommended additional readings.

Presenting a selection of critical essays in anthropology from 1860 to the current day, this sixth edition of Anthropological Theory includes classic authors such as Tylor, Marx, Boas, Malinowski, Foucault, Turner, and Geertz as well as contemporary thinkers such as Appadurai, Abu-Lughod, and Bourgois. Most essays are reprinted without abridgement. Those that are shortened include notes explaining how much and what was removed.

What sets McGee and Warms’ text apart from other readers are its introductions, footnotes, and index. Detailed introductions examine critical developments in theory, introduce key people and discuss historical and personal influences on theorists. In extensive footnotes the editors provide commentary that puts the writing in historical and cultural context, defines unusual terms, translates non-English phrases, identifies references to other scholars and their works, and offers paraphrases and summaries of complex passages. The notes identify and provide background information on hundreds of scholars and concepts important in the development of anthropology. This makes the essays more accessible to both students and current day scholars. An extensive index makes this book an invaluable reference tool.