Cultural Diversity in the United States: A Critical Reader

Rating:
Summary: "Will doubtless inform future discussion and debate"
Review: For nearly 100 years anthropologists have researched issues of ethnicity, race, and cultural diversity in the US, and this edited collection, an official publication of the American Anthropological Association, demonstrates anthropology's continuing commitment to research in this area. Contributors represent all major subfields of anthropology and cover a wide variety of topics. Of special note are the chapters by Alan H. Goodman, Thomas C. Patterson, Michael Winkelman, Marie D. Vesperi, and Ruben Mendoza. Mendoza's chapter, which examines social values underlying popular museum exhibits, is outstanding. A number of chapters are replete with jargon and assume familiarity with postmodernism, neo-Marxism, and advanced literary theory. Nevertheless, this volume greatly enriches understanding of cultural differences and will doubtless inform future discussion and debate. Recommended. Stephen D. Glazier, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Published in Choice, vol. 39, no. 3 (November 2001)