Levi-Strauss: A Modern Master (Fontana Modern Masters) - Softcover

The theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss (born 1908) aim at no less than a complete understanding of the human mind. They combine, to quote the author of this book, ‘baffling complexity’ with ‘overwhelming erudition’. In unravelling these complexities, Sir Edmund Leach’s classic study balances a sharply critical approach with a generous recognition of Lévi-Strauss’s importance as the father of modern structural anthropology. This Second Edition of ' Lévi-Strauss' comes with a revised bibliography, updated notes and a new preface by Dr James Laidlaw, who lectures in Social Anthropology in the University of Cambridge.

“Leach, with great humour and impartiality, explains Lévi-Strauss’s originality, castigates his intellectual arrogance and theoretical dogmatism, and puts him into perspective, not only within the field of anthropology, but also the general history of thought.”
JOHN WEIGHTMAN, 'Observer'

“The newcomer to Lévi-Strauss or to structural anthropology will find this book an admirable key to a convoluted mind and a complicated topic.”
NEW SOCIETY

“Leach, the analytic anthropologist, faults many of Lévi-Strauss’s basic purposes – for example, the attempt to establish facts ‘universally true of the human mind’. But Leach rightly admires Lévi-Strauss’s remarkably revealing handling of complex traditions, and so attempts only to curtail Lévi-Strauss’s extravagance.”
BIRMINGHAM POST