Navajo Kinship and Marriage
The Navajo are one of the most studied people in the world, yet their social organization is one of the least understood. Gary Witherspoon is uniquely qualified to provide that understanding because he has lived with the Navajo for fourteen years and speaks their language fluently. Navajo Kinship And Marriage is a definitive work combining an extraordinarily high quality of observational material with an innovate theoretical framework. Witherspoon's clear and concise text questions the adequacy of traditional sociological approaches to kinship, making a primary distinction between culture (patterns for behavior) and the system of social relations (observable patterns of behavior). Navajo Kinship And Marriage is a splendid addition to any contemporary Native American studies reading list.  --Midwest Book Review