Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge [With CDROM]

I did get a used book for a class. It is a great buy, I would've paid $148 for a new one at school, but I asked the teacher and he said this older edition would be fine, so I saved myself a ton of money. The book is in good condition, too.

Although my Professor is only using this text as a reference and Chapter 4 is a little challenging to get through- if you want to learn more about the peoples of the world - this is a great text. It provides challenges and honest truth about different peoples being oppressed by others and losing their cultures in the process. I think many Anthropologists try to fight discrimination and ignorance and this book follows that mind set. The highlighted stories are excellent and I find myself very amused when I read them.

Thanks for getting this book out as quick as you did. I order this book from another web site and waited three weeks into class and never received it, I am still waiting for the refund. YOU provided excellent service and got the book to me three days after I ordered it which helped me out, being that I was so far behind in my class reading. Thank You

I use this book in my cultural anthropology courses in part because it does what is expected: cover the major divisions of what an introductory class should expose students. However, the plus to me is that the last couple of chapters cover culture contact and change based on a dominant culture coming in contact with smaller groups and also covers "globalization" which is directly relevant to the lives of my students. So at the end of our term we can switch a bit from abstract academic discussions to issues happening the in the world today. We examine concepts like "modernization" and whether the western dominant perspective that this is always good (for everyone) is true and we look at global issues that affect our species, nation, security, and subsistence from a diverse perspective. Adding Annual Editions brings the text to life, as well.

This is one of the better anthropology texts available today. It is very comprehensive, well-organized, and takes a very broad view of the human condition. The problem with textbooks is that they sometimes summarize issues as if they were settled questions, when, in reality, many of the problems involved are the subjects of complex debate. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since the majority of undergraduate students are not interested in primary sources that are very difficult to read and take a lot of work to understand. As an instructor I found the book to be very good as a basic resource that allowed me to teach my perspective of the discipline to students using supplementary materials and lectures. The major drawback is that it is so expensive, but not more so than other textbooks out there. Here is what one of my very good students said about the book, "I found it to be well-organized, thorough, and easy to understand. I have never taken a class in this subject before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but as far as I can tell it is a useful text. I had one other cultural anthropology class this term and I was able to use the textbook from your class as a reference from time to time. I chose anthropology as my minor, and so for further reference purposes I have kept the text from your class." Students who have strong political views (right or left) will say this book is "biased" since it does not claim that Western civilization, Christianity, or American culture are superior or inferior to other cultures. The book, for example, teaches that ethnocentrism, racism, economic exploitation, colonialism, and polluting the environment are generally not good things-- but these evils are not new to the world or authored by any one particular culture. Those who don't like the idea of multiculturalism will not like the book.