Social Science & Anthropology & General

Cultural Anthropology - The Human Challenge with CD-ROM and InfoTrac

4 stars (I don't know why the other reviews are so critical) - I bought this because it is needed for my Cultural Anthropology class and it's a pretty smooth read. It has a definate liberal bias but no more than any other college book I've had to buy, if anything it's a bit less liberal bias than some of the books I've had to suffer through. It's topics are very interesting and in most places the authors at least try to be neutral. The really good part of the book is not the part the instructors normally assign but the stuff in the yellow boxes which are almost like reading stories. 5 stars (A Good Introductory Text) - 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 politic...
Wadsworth Publishing :: Social Science & Anthropology & General :: Sociology :: Social Science :: Ethnology :: Archaeology & Anthropology :: Anthropology - General :: Anthropology - Cult :: Cultural Anthropology - The Human Challenge (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

Biological Anthropology - The Natural History of Humankind

Biological Anthropology : The Natural History of Humankind...
Prentice Hall :: Social Science & Anthropology & General :: Textbooks :: Sociology :: Social Science :: Physical anthropology :: Anthropology - Physical :: Anthropology - General :: :: Biological Anthropology - The Natural History of Humankind

Cultural Anthropology - An Applied Perspective with InfoTrac

Cultural Anthropology : An Applied Perspective (with InfoTrac)...
Wadsworth Publishing :: Social Science & Anthropology & General :: Sociology :: Social Science :: Ethnology :: Archaeology & Anthropology :: Applied anthropology :: Anthropology - Genera :: Cultural Anthropology - An Applied Perspective (with InfoTrac)

Magic- Witchcraft- and Religion - An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural

3 stars (Here's my problem with it so far...) - Here's my problem with the book: It presents an unfavorable view of certain types of magick and religions. True, I have not finished the book yet, but all you hav to do is read the negative definitions for the words "withcraft: An EVIL power inhert in certain individuals that permits them...to do HARM or cause others MISFORTUNE;" "New Age: a loosley used term describing a combination of spirituality and superstition, a FAD and FARCE, that SUPPOSEDLY helps believes gain knowledge of the unknown;" and two of the four definitions involving the word magick end with the words "intended victim." Granted, the book was originally written in 1985 when withcraft, magick and Wicca weren't as accepted, but it was reprinted in 2001, so you'd think some of the definitions could have been changed. It just doesn't seem like an objective view of the supernatural and magick, but rather a negatively jaded one. It's getting 3 stars becasue I haven't finished it, and there's always a chance it could redeem itself at the end. ~Koppur 4 stars (good summary of religion) - This book is used by Butte college as well as Chico State. The book consists of independent articles, or exerpts, that illustrate the topics of each chapter. Some of the articles are difficult to read, but in general it does provide useful information. 4 stars (Magic, Witchcraft, & Religion) - I currently use this book as the text for a class I teach at California State University, Chico (Anthropology 40: Magic, Witchcraft, & Religion). I was fortunate enough to have taken this and other courses from the authors Arthur C. Lehmann and James E. Myers. This book serves as a good reader for comparative religions and focuses on non-western societies. Articles on western belief systems are used for comparison and contrasting with the non-western examples. Although targeted for the freshman level, the text assumes the reader have some understanding of anthropology. ...
McGraw-Hill Humanities-Social Sciences-Languages :: Social Science & Anthropology & General :: Sociology of Religion :: Religion :: Occultism :: New Age :: General :: Body :: Mind & Spirit :: Archaeology & Anthropology :: Magic- Witchcraft- and Religion - An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural