Foundations of Anthropological Theory: From Classical Antiquity to Early Modern Europe

“This splendid selection demonstrates the issues to which contemporary anthropology is heir, and thus serves as an insightful reminder that the topics raised are of more than mere historical concern.”
—Lawrence Rosen, Princeton University

Robert Launay’s critical introduction and carefully selected texts brilliantly portray how anthropology’s predecessors, European and non-European, framed central issues in understanding their own and other societies. Foundations of Anthropological Theory is must reading – and also a pleasure.
—Dale F. Eickelman, Dartmouth College