Invisible Genealogies: A History of Americanist Anthropology (Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology)
Darnell (anthropology, Univ. of Western Ontario) argues that the  contributions of Franz Boas and his followers remain relevant  for today's anthropologists, who are more likely to draw their  theories and inspiration from outsiders such as Michel Foucault,  Benedict Anderson, and Edward Said than from other  anthropologists. Written on a high theoretical level, this  outstanding book is the product of the author's lifelong  engagement with her disciplinary ancestors. Her familiarity with  the Boasian corpus enables her to breathe life into the  often-dry primary works under scrutiny and provide a convincing  genealogy of anthropological theories of and approaches to  culture, language, history, psychology, and biography. Rather  than closely following texts, she uses a more improvisational  method, bringing in archival and informal sources. Her notion  that the distinct angle of anthropology as taught and practiced  in North America can be traced to its early focus on Native  Americans is debatable. Still, this book is chockfull of  insight. Highly recommended for academic libraries. Jay H.  Bernstein, Fordham Univ. Lib., Bronx, NYCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.