Short Notices

Abstract

PROF. GOLDENWEISER'S "Anthropolog" was undertaken originally as a revision of his "Early Civilization" ; but in the process of expansion it has grown into a new book. It now falls into three parts. The first, "Animals, Man and Culture", deals with man's place in Nature, and his relationship, physical and psychic, to the animal world, as well as his reactions in the development of culture ; the second, "Primitive Life and Thought", discusses in twenty-two chapters culture traits, both material and social inthe broader sense, in the light of specific examples as exhibited in varied cultural environments ; and in the third, "The Ways of Culture", certain general problems of theoretical import are considered in four chapters on culture and environment, the spread of culture, and evolution and culture. This last section will be particularly valuable to the student. It is a well-balanced and objective examination of topics into which controversial methods are apt to introduce some, however little, distortion. A chapter on "The White Man's Burden" deals with the deplorable effects on backward peoples of contact with white civilization, and describes the efforts which are being made in the United States under the legislation of 1934 to reintegrate the tribal culture of the Indian. Prof. Goldenweiser, while generally approving the object, confesses that he is not an optimist as to the result, although the Indians have shown themselves eagerly ready to take advantage of the offers made by the Government.