1942-1946 THE WAR YEARS

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This book is not a war time blood & guts story. It is an account of young men thrown together in situations unlike any they previously experienced. Some young adults from the hinterlands were exposed to the modern marvels of indoor plumbing & electricity. I intended this story to be a bio & I can't deny that it is. But it became more about those I served with than about the author. Reports on the progress of the war are interspersed with events aboard ship & is part of the fabric of this story. I was urged to include my return to civilian life as military service terminated, a suggestion I initially rejected. But eventually the story was extended, more to add text & pages to the book than to augment the story line. That portion of the book, I subsequently concluded, could have appeal for many who have had similar problems & experiences.

The pleasure of remembering the war years, 1942-1946 (Letters from Granddad)

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The pleasure of remembering the war years, 1942-1946 (Letters from Granddad)
Laurin Currie McArthur
Manufacturer: Furman University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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The war years, 1942-1946 (Letters from Granddad)

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The war years, 1942-1946 (Letters from Granddad)
Laurin Currie McArthur
Manufacturer: Furman University
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Binding: Unknown Binding

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Margaret Mead: A Life
Jane Howard
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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Binding: Paperback

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With a Daughter's Eye: Memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, A

Male and Female

Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle

Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (Perennial Classics)

Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict: The Kinship of Women

ASIN: 0449904970
Release Date: 1989-12-16

Book Description

Howard's definitive biography of the woman who was one of the giants of the 20th century covers Mead's professional accomplishments, three marriages, intense friendships, and groundbreaking travels. 16-page photograph insert.

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Fascinating Glimpses of Her Early Life
A Must For Future Anthropologists
Interesting memoir of the early years

Blackberry Winter: My Earlier Years
Margaret Mead , and Nancy Lutkehaus
Manufacturer: Kodansha America
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 156836069X

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Fascinating Glimpses of Her Early Life.......2004-12-08

This book provides Mead's accounts of the people and events that most affected her thought and research. About half the book is devoted to her life before she began her career as an anthropologist. We meet her parents, Edward Mead and Emily Fogg Mead. Edward was an economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Emily divided her time between managing the household and pursuing her doctoral studies in the social sciences. Edward's mother, Martha Ramsay Mead, a former schoolteacher and principal, also lived with the family and was the primary director of their home schooling. Margaret describes her relationship with each of her parents and with her grandmother and siblings in turn. We learn how the family moved every season from one domicile to another, and how this shaped Margaret's concept of "home". Margaret also discusses how Edward related to his academic work and colleagues (such as when he organized a group to guarantee Scott Nearing's salary for a year after his dismissal). Margaret describes her schooling in detail, from the approach to learning that her grandmother and mother instilled with their home schooling efforts, to the various traditional schools that she attended and the social lessons she learned from them. She also discusses her college years and friends.

The second part of the book describes Mead's adult and professional life. She explains her relationships with all three of her husbands, and how in the case of Reo Fortune and Gregory Bateson, they collaborated together in their fieldwork. She also relates how she came to work with Franz Boas, and how he directed her research early in her career. She tells us about how she came to know Ruth Benedict, and how she considered Benedict one of her closest colleagues and friends. The last part of the book, covering Margaret's experiences as a mother and grandmother, is not as detailed, but does provide some personal observations.

For me, the most interesting aspects of this book were Mead's own interpretation of her motivations and accomplishments. She was a firm believer in both the value and necessity of studying cultures very different from her own. On the first page of the text, she tells us "I have spent most of my life studying the lives of other peoples, faraway peoples, so that Americans might better understand themselves." Later she notes, "to clear one's mind of presuppositions is a very hard thing to do and, without years of practice, all but impossible when one is working in one's own culture or in another that is very close to it." In summing up her work, she states, "I went to Samoa-as, later, I went to the other societies on which I have worked-to find out more about human beings, human beings like ourselves in everything except their culture. Through the accidents of history, these cultures had developed so differently from ours that knowledge of them could shed a kind of light upon us, upon our potentialities and our limitations, that was unique." Some anthropologists today have a different approach, believing that since one cannot understand a foreign culture completely, it is better to stick to observing one's own culture. There is still much validity, however, in Mead's point that you can't know what is natural or unnatural, innate or learned behaviors, unless you are aware of the wide range of possibilities exhibited by the myriad cultures of the world.

A Must For Future Anthropologists.......2002-12-25

This book is a must read for a future Anthroplogists.
It clearly brings together all her theories and it is a
heartfelt view on a extremly successful and inspiring
person in this field. I truly enjoyed her book and her
views on culture and the future of Anthropology. I became a big
fan of hers and will continue reading the rest of her books.
If you are only slightly interested in Cultural Anthropolgy
then I suggest you read her books. They are easy to read and
very insightful about culture.
It is worth every penny spend.

Interesting memoir of the early years.......1998-04-09

This autobiography is especially interesting for its insight into the professional life of a woman scholar in the 1920's and 1930's in a then new field of inquiry, although Mead did not encounter the extreme levels of resistance that make heroes and role models. Greek societies at her first college seem to have been far more repressive and damaging than were her graduate programs or employers. The professional rivalries are interesting. The book is especially strong in its depiction of Mead's parents, whose contrasting traits we can easily see influencing the daughter's ideas and character. Mead seems to be a keen observer of them, frank about their strengths and weaknesses, as dispassionate as she was in describing people in New Guinea. Mead is far less interested in or detailed about her three husbands. In fact, the autobiography seems oddly reticent, considering that its author was open minded, professionally interested in the sexual habits of other peoples, and unintimidated. She was able to ask Pacific Islanders what positions they preferred for intercourse, but unable in the autobiography to give a sense of the life of her marriages. We learn in detail what she packed for a trip, but only discover in passing that a divorce occurred. This book rewards readers more with cultural history than with a sense of the author's emotional life.

Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle

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Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle
Lois W. Banner
Manufacturer: Knopf
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679454357
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Book Description

A uniquely revealing biography of two eminent twentieth century American women. Close friends for much of their lives, Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead met at Barnard College in 1922, when Mead was a student, Benedict a teacher. They became sexual partners (though both married), and pioneered in the then male-dominated discipline of anthropology. They championed racial and sexual equality and cultural relativity despite the generally racist, xenophobic, and homophobic tenor of their era. Mead’s best-selling Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) and Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935), and Benedict’s Patterns of Culture (1934), Race (1940), and The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946), were landmark studies that ensured the lasting prominence and influence of their authors in the field of anthropology and beyond.

With unprecedented access to the complete archives of the two women—including hundreds of letters opened to scholars in 2001—Lois Banner examines the impact of their difficult childhoods and the relationship between them in the context of their circle of family, friends, husbands, lovers, and colleagues, as well as the calamitous events of their time. She shows how Benedict inadvertently exposed Mead to charges of professional incompetence, discloses the serious errors New Zealand anthropologist Derek Freeman made in his famed attack on Mead’s research on Samoa, and reveals what happened in New Guinea when Mead and colleagues engaged in a ritual aimed at overturning all gender and sexual boundaries.

In this illuminating and innovative work, Banner has given us the most detailed, balanced, and informative portrait of Mead and Benedict—individually and together—that we have had.

With a Daughter's Eye: Memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, A

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History of the Personal
One of the best!

With a Daughter's Eye: Memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, A
Mary C. Bateson
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060975733

Book Description

In With a Daughter's Eye, writer and cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson looks back on her extraordinary childhood with two of the world's legendary anthropologists, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. This deeply human and illuminating portrait sheds new light on her parents' prodigious achievements and stands alone as an important contribution for scholars of Mead and Bateson. But for readers everywhere, this engaging, poignant, and powerful book is first and foremost a singularly candid memoir of a unique family by the only person who could have written it.

Customer Reviews:

History of the Personal.......2005-11-26

Margaret Mead was one of my heroines when I was growing up. How fascinating to read this biography which is a blend of intellectual and up close and personal history of her. To have her husband, Gregory Bateson included is icing on the cake. Mary Catherine has done an extremely creditble job. For example, she writes, "Margaret always emphasized the importance of recording first impressions . . . for . . . the informed eye has its own blindness as it begins to take for granted things that were initially bizarre." As I read of Margaret's reaction to Mary Catherine's wedding -- that it must be a format that reflected Margaret and Gregory's place in the world, rather than just the personal joy and celebration of a daughter, I had to wonder if Mary Catherine ever connected the above passage to her own children. This daughter writes with a fairly clear eye about her parents. They are neither great untouchable icons, nor are they flawed little humans. I suspect she did a great deal of balancing in her own emotions to come up with the portraits she painted because, in truth, we have three portraits here, all interconnected and somehow, ongoing. Not a superficial book.

One of the best!.......2004-12-30

I enjoyed the careful description of two legendary lives observed by the author as a daughter and an anthropologist. As a piece of anthropological writing, a certain distance is maintained when the author tells of her memories of growing up with her parents and the relationship between them. Yet, I can still detect her sadness and love in the seemingly unemotional and impersonal writing style. Often, significant feelings are embedded in the scientific explaination of her parents' theories and ideas. I not only gained a better understanding of the field of anthropology, but also find the "differences" (such as different kinds of families, marriages, choices, ideas, personalities) that we encounter in life as descriped by the author enriching.

The Value of Understanding: The Story of Margaret Mead (Valuetales Series)

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The Value of Understanding: The Story of Margaret Mead (Valuetales Series)
Spencer Johnson
Manufacturer: Value Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0916392376

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Interesting

Letters from the Field, 1925-1975
Margaret Mead
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060958049
Release Date: 2001-10-23

Book Description

Margaret Mead was famous for keeping in touch with a wide circle of friends as we see in this collection of wonderfully revealing correspondence from the field. Written over a period of half a century, these letters to friends, family, and colleagues detail her first fieldwork in Samoa and go on to record her now famous anthropological endeavors in mainland New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, and Bali. Enhanced by photographs, these intelligent, vivid, frequently funny, and often poetic letters tell us much about Mead's passion for and understanding of preliterate cultures. But they are equally valuable as a fundamental text on the science -- and art -- of anthropology. This edition, prepared for the centennial of Mead's birth, features introductions by Jan Morris and Mead's daughter. Mary Catherine Bateson.

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Interesting.......2002-06-27

This book is a collection of letters written by Margaret Mead to friends and family while she was working in the field. The letters span her entire career, from 1925 until 1975, and are accompanied in every chapter by photos by and of Mead. I found the letters quite intriguing, both for what they said as well as for what they didn't say. Some of the letters provide travelogue-like details of what conditions were like at her research sites. Some tell us a little more of what she was really thinking about the people and cultures that she later wrote formal descriptions of. Some of the later letters are quite formal, more journal entries than personal letters.

I found some of the most interesting materials actually to be the short introductions that Mead wrote at the beginning of each chapter, where she glosses quickly over the enormous upheavals in her personal life. In chapter 1, she says goodbye to her "student husband, Luther Cressman." In the next chapter, she notes that she stopped in Auckland on her way to the Admiralty Islands to marry Reo Fortune before starting her 1928-29 research project in Manus. Then in chapter 5, she stops in Singapore to marry Gregory Bateson in preparation for their 1936-1939 project in Bali. Since I had only read Mead's professional writings before, the book's casual mentions of frequent successive marriages aroused some curiosity about her personal life. A quick Web search revealed quite a bit more, including a long-standing connection with Ruth Benedict (see for example "Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict: The Kinship of Women" by Hilary Lapsley). If you are interested in the life and work of Margaret Mead, this book will give you some insight into Mead's own opinions of what she was observing that go beyond the objective descriptions found in her formal works.

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Experiencias Personales Y Cientificas De Una Antropologa
Margaret Mead
Manufacturer: Paidc"s Iberica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 8475094503

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Ruth Benedict: A Humanist in Anthropology (Columbia Classics in Anthropology)
Margaret Mead
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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How Institutions Think (Frank W. Abrams Lectures)

Doing Fieldwork: Warnings and Advice (Midway Reprint)

Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)

Primitive Art

Interpretation of Cultures (Basic Books Classics)

ASIN: 0231134916

Book Description

By weaving discussions of the personal and professional writings of Ruth Benedict (1887--1948), Margaret Mead offers a deeply insightful portrait of a woman who overcame the barriers of sexism to become one of the most compelling intellectual figures in twentieth-century American life. In this work, Mead defends Benedict's humanistic approach to anthropology and considers her most important works.

Benedict's work is also presented in the context of her personal life. Benedict was a shy young woman who felt alienated from her conservative family and society's expectations. Ultimately, she defined her life through her extraordinary work in anthropology and a commitment to public service. Benedict believed that anthropology should speak to contemporary ethical and political questions.

In addition to a selection of Benedict's anthropological writings, this edition includes new forewords by two leading Benedict scholars.

Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education (Perennial Classics)

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Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education (Perennial Classics)
Margaret Mead
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0688178111
Release Date: 2001-02-20

Book Description

Following the sensational success of her first book, Coming of Age in Samoa, Margaret Mead continued her brilliant work in Growing Up in New Guinea, detailing her study of the Manus, a New Guinea people still untouched by the outside world when she visited them in 1928. She lived in their noisy fishing village at a pivotal time -- after warfare had vanished but before missions and global commerce had begun to change their lives. She developed fascinating insights into their family lives, exploring their attitudes toward sex, marriage, the rearing of children, and the supernatural, which led her to see intriguing parallels with modern Western society. Reissued for the centennial of her birth and featuring introductions by Howard Gardner and Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson, this book offers important anthropological insights into human societies and vividly captures a vanished way of life.

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Margaret Mead (Women Who Dare)
Aimee Hess
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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