Margaret Mead wrote this comprehensive sketch of the culture of the United States - the first since de Tocqueville - in 1942 at the beginnning of the Second World War, when Americans were confronted by foreign powers from both Europe and Asia in a particularly challenging manner. Mead's work became an instant classic. It was required reading for anthropology students for nearly two decades, and was widely translated. It was revised and expanded in 1965 for a second generation of readers. Among the more controversial conclusions of her analysis are the denial of class as a motivating force in American culture, and her contention that culture is the primary determinant for individual character formation. Her process remains lucid, vivid, and arresting. As a classic study of a complex western society, it remains a monument to anthropological analysis.
Margaret Mead served as Curator of Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History from 1925 to 1969. She began her career with a study of youth and adolescence in Samoan society, published as Coming of Age in Samoa (1928). She published prolifically, becoming a seminal figure in anthropology, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1979.
America According to Margaret MeadHervé VarennePreface - 1965Preface from England - 1943Introduction - 1965Chapter 1. Introduction - 1942Chapter 2. Clearing the AirChapter 3. We Are All Third GenerationChapter 4. The Class HandicapChapter 5. The European in Our MidstChapter 6. Parents, Children and AchievementChapter 7. Brothers and Sisters and SuccessChapter 8. Are Today’s Youth Different?Chapter 9. The Chip on the ShoulderChapter 10. Fighting the War American StyleChapter 11. Are Democracy and Social Science Compatible Each with Each?Chapter 12. If We Are to Go OnChapter 13. Building the World NewChapter 14. These Things We Can DoChapter 15. The Years Between: 1943–1965Bibliographical Note - 1942Bibliograpghy - 1942Bibliographical Note - 1965Bibliography - 1965