Cultural Anthropology

Rating:
Summary: Cultural Anthropology's Haviland is Great!
Review: I have read this book. Very good, clear and great. Congratulation to Prof. Haviland.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing for the Educated Reader
Review: The editors' review would lead you to believe this is an unbiased, thorough and scholarly examination of cultural anthropology. It is not. There is subtle age, gender, cultural and religious bias. Although it is a thorough look at various cultures, it is by no means comprehensive or accurate. It is inaccurate in highlighted descriptions of minor aspects of Native American culture, especially of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. It seems to imply Western European cultures and various organized religions are the greatest evil on the planet. The portrayal of some cultures, such as the Malaysian, Pacific Island, and a few of the African Bushmen cultures, are very nice but that is the only redeeming quality of this text. Real scholars should avoid this text at all costs!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing for the Educated Reader
Review: The editors' review would lead you to believe this is an unbiased, thorough and scholarly examination of cultural anthropology. It is not. There is subtle age, gender, cultural and religious bias. Although it is a thorough look at various cultures, it is by no means comprehensive or accurate. It is inaccurate in highlighted descriptions of minor aspects of Native American culture, especially of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. It seems to imply Western European cultures and various organized religions are the greatest evil on the planet. The portrayal of some cultures, such as the Malaysian, Pacific Island, and a few of the African Bushmen cultures, are very nice but that is the only redeeming quality of this text. Real scholars should avoid this text at all costs!

Rating:
Summary: Book Sucks
Review: This book is down to earth stupid! Through out the text, haviland insults Western countries by saying that they are all uncivilized and their way of life is far inferior when compared w/ other indegineous cultures. If he has a Ph.D., he should know better that insulting any culture is the trait of a narrow-minded person - not a guy who holds a ph.d. He also mocks religion constantly and the book repeats the same thing in several chapters...its like after a while you'll say "dude, we get the point, move on!". Don't buy it, unless u are a college student and your teacher requires it (I don't know y they would).

Rating:
Summary: Book Sucks
Review: This is among the most frustratingly uninteresting textbooks I've ever read. Every chapter takes the same dull, sensationalistic view of its subject, citing a limitless number of redundant examples of life in lesser-known cultures while condemning every aspect of modern, industrial cultures. Each unit restates the same cliches ad nauseam, and reading this material does nothing to enhance one's appreciation for humanity or for science. It is a terrible and tiresome introduction to anthropology.

Rating:
Summary: Intolerable
Review: This is among the most frustratingly uninteresting textbooks I've ever read. Every chapter takes the same dull, sensationalistic view of its subject, citing a limitless number of redundant examples of life in lesser-known cultures while condemning every aspect of modern, industrial cultures. Each unit restates the same cliches ad nauseam, and reading this material does nothing to enhance one's appreciation for humanity or for science. It is a terrible and tiresome introduction to anthropology.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading text
Review: This text explores human nature in a completely dry, systematic, and cliched manner. It conveys none of the realities of human experience. It describes the customs and practices followed by only a handful of societies in the world, and it does so in a distorted and often sensationalized manner. For example, it portrays Christianity as a simple religion of snake handlers, and it describes the Christian practice of eating the body of God in the COMMUNION WATER! The text communicates that there is no meaning or reason to human existence, and it picks apart each aspect of humanity until there is nothing left but the absurdity of all human thought and belief. If you wish to understand Man's history, get a firsthand look at what Man has written, built, believed, and striven for throughout the ages. Don't go to this book to have your questions answered. I don't know who wrote that ridiculous one sentence review about this book being wonderful, but they were a moron to do so.

Rating:
Summary: cliched anthropology
Review: This text explores human nature in a completely systematic, dry, and cliched manner. It conveys none of the reality of human experience, but merely tells of the customs and practices followed by some societies in a distorted and often sensationalized manner. The text communicates that there is no meaning or reason to human existence, and picks apart each aspect of humanity until there is nothing left but the absurdity of all human thought and belief. If you wish to understand man throughout history, get a firsthand look at what he has written, built, believed, and striven for throughout the ages. Don't go to this book to have your questions answered.

Rating:
Summary: I agree with the previous reviews...
Review: This text was required reading for my anthropology course and although I was looking forward to learning about the subject matter, I felt that Haviland wrote in a way that made it much less enjoyable than it should have been. Often repetitive, always with his own biased version and even his terminology (using such phrases as *something like* when using descriptives)were not what I expected from someone of his caliber. To make matters worse, the *Original Study* segments which were some of the most interesting parts of the book were printed on a green background with the print lightened so that it was barely readable...what were the publishers thinking? I was greatly disappointed.