description: Tristes Tropiques was a popular bestseller when 1st published in France in '55. Claude Levi-Strauss' groundbreaking study of the societies of a number of Amazonian peoples is a cornerstone of structural anthropology &amp; an exploration by the author of his own intellectual roots as a professor of philosophy in Brazil before WW2, as a Jewish exile from Nazi-occupied Europe &amp; later as a world-renowned academic (he taught at the New School for Social Research &amp; was French cultural attache to the USA). His central journey leads from the Amazon basin thru the dense upland jungles of Brazil. There, among the Caduveo, Bororo, Nambikwara &amp; Tupi-Kawahib Amerindian tribes he found "a human society reduced to its most basic expression." His discussion of his fieldwork in Tristes Tropiques endures as a milestone of anthropology, but the book is also, in its diversions on other, more familiar cultures, a literary work, vivid travelogue &amp; engaging memoir--a demonstration of the marvelous mental agility of one of the century's most important thinkers. Presented here is the translation by John &amp; Doreen Weightman of the complete text of the revised French edition of '68, together with the original photos &amp; illustrations.
language: English
title: Tristes Tropiques
titlecomplete: Tristes Tropiques
genres: France, Philosophy, Science, Memoir, Travel, Nonfiction, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Classics
ratings_count: 3537
awards: awardedAt: 126259200000
name: Scott Moncrieff Prize
category: John Weightman & Doreen Weightman
publisher: Pocket