Totems and Teachers: Key Figures in the History of Anthropology

Nine essays link biography, social context, and theoretical developments in profiling as many figures from the profession during the 20th century. They were not selected to represent the field in general, nor to lift their reputations above those of their peers, but by who was available and willing to participate without compensation in the 1976 lecture series at the City University of New York where the papers were first delivered. Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski, Ruth Benedict, and Margaret M…