Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture

· Sold by Vintage
4.3
6 reviews
Ebook
288
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

One of America's leading anthropolgists offers solutions to the perplexing question of why people behave the way they do.

Why do Hindus worship cows? Why do Jews and Moslems refuse to eat pork? Why did so many people in post-medieval Europe believe in witches?

Marvin Harris answers these and other perplexing questions about human behavior, showing that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from identifiable and intelligble sources.

Ratings and reviews

4.3
6 reviews
Antonio Máximo
December 12, 2022
Hola, me encanta este libro. Les voy a decir dos cosas al que lea esto: •Gracias. •Te deseo un buen día.
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Ken H
February 24, 2022
Read this book back in the 1970s again in the early 2000s. Excellent analysis and description of cultural myths...
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A Google user
May 20, 2016
Should be compulsory reading for all adults.
1 person found this review helpful
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About the author

Marvin Harris taught at Columbia University from 1953 and from 1963 to 1966 was Chairman of the Department of Anthropology.  He has lectured by invitation at most of the major colleges and universities in the United States. In addition to field work in Brazil, Mozambique, and Ecuador on the subjects of cross-cultural aspects of race and ethinic relations, the effects of colonialism, and problems of underdevelopment seen in ecological perspective, Harris pioneered in the use of videotape techniques in the study of family life in this country.

Author of several books, among them the influential Rise of Anthropological Theory: A History of Theories of Culture and the popoular undergraduate text Culture, Man and Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology, Harris wrote frequently for Natural History magazine and was a frequent contributor to the professional journals, American Anthropologist and Current Anthropology.  His others books inlcue Cannibals and Kings and Cultural Materialism.

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