History and Theory in Anthropology

Rating:
Summary: A good cultural anthropology primer
Review: This bood represents a clear and concise treatment of anthropological theory. Alan Barnard traces its history from inception to postmordernism. The different schools of thought are linked to the corresponding figures set against a particular socio-political space and time. The dinamic evolution of the discipline is well represented for it provides an interconnected mesh of causality. Throughout the book flow charts and schematic representations proved to be very helpful. Although primary sources can not be dealt adequately through interpretative works, Barnard's book is a good reference to have at hand.

Rating:
Summary: A great reference for the beginning student of anthropology
Review: This book provides a clear, concise précis of the historical progression of social and cultural anthropological theories. There is a glossary of key terms at the end and also an extensive bibliography. For the curious, he provides an appendix of key theorists listed in the text as well. As noted in the preface, the book began as a series of lecture notes the author used for a Cambridge course in the history and theory of anthropology. The text reflects this but the chapters are all well developed and he guides you through each topic in a straightforward way.

In general, I found the book to be very useful in explaining concepts in layman's terms and without the pretentiousness in language that often plagues the writings of social scientists. I would certainly recommend this book for anyone interested in the anthropological theories of human culture as well as the beginning undergraduate student in cultural anthropology. For graduate or more advanced students interested in a more intensive study of this topic, I would probably look elsewhere.

I give this book only 4 stars instead of 5 because its style is rather perfunctory and fails to engage the reader into the subject since this was obviously not the author's intention.