Anthropology

Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 27K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Anthropology by Daniel G. BrintonAuthor: Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899,Language: English, Class: GN: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Anthropology, Release Date: Feb 22, 2010

Editor's review

Anthropology is an early work on the subject by the American scholar Daniel G. Brinton, made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Brinton was a leading figure in American anthropology in the late nineteenth century, and the book reflects the intellectual framework and key questions of the discipline in its early professional phase, giving it value in the history of scholarship and as a historical document. Its strength lies in its relatively systematic discussion of the basic categories and research methods of anthropology, allowing readers to see what today's anthropological concepts looked like in their early form. It suits readers with an interest in the history of the discipline as focused reading, or as supplementary historical material for anthropology courses. One caution: some of its views on race and culture are clearly limited by their era and should not be cited directly as contemporary anthropological conclusions; it is better read critically under the guidance of an instructor or annotations. As a public-domain text, it is a mirror for understanding how the discipline evolved, not an introductory textbook.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of anthropology and early texts
Students taking anthropology or sociology courses who need supplementary historical material
Readers studying late nineteenth-century academic thought and intellectual frameworks
Readers who enjoy public-domain classics and taking critical notes

Not a good fit for

Beginners looking for a contemporary introduction to anthropology
Readers expecting the latest fieldwork methods and ethnographic case studies
Readers unwilling to identify historical limitations and hoping to cite conclusions directly

Reading tips

Start with the table of contents and introduction to grasp the author's key questions and chapter structure before moving into the main text.
Mark passages on race and culture that carry the biases of the era as you read, then analyze them together afterward.
Read alongside a contemporary introduction to anthropology to observe which concepts and methods persist and which have broken with the past.
You may read closely the chapters relevant to your own research and skim the rest to grasp the overall framework.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this book serve as an introductory anthropology textbook?

Not recommended. It is an early work from the late nineteenth century, and its intellectual framework differs greatly from contemporary anthropology; some views have been revised by later developments in the field. Beginners who treat it directly as a textbook may mistake historical limitations for disciplinary consensus. It is better used as a history-of-the-discipline reader, read in comparison with a contemporary introduction.

Are the views in this book still credible today?

They need to be assessed selectively. The book's organization of anthropological categories and subject matter has documentary value, but its discussions of race and cultural evolution are clearly limited by their era and conflict with contemporary anthropological positions. Readers should treat it as a historical text and understand how intellectuals of the time thought, rather than citing its conclusions directly.

Can I read it without knowing anthropology?

Yes, but what you get out of it depends on how you read. If you are entirely unfamiliar with basic disciplinary concepts, it is advisable to browse a contemporary introduction to anthropology first and grasp basic terms such as culture, ethnography, and fieldwork before returning to this book; you will then find it easier to distinguish which questions persist and which old claims have been revised.

Why choose the public-domain electronic edition?

Project Gutenberg offers free electronic text that is easy to search, making it suitable for keyword searches, chapter excerpts, and comparative research. Readers interested in the history of the discipline can obtain the original text at low cost and use it alongside annotations and secondary research. Note that the electronic edition is the original text, so it is best to have background material at hand while reading.

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About the author

Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899 Author

Daniel G. Brinton (1837–1899) was an American scholar of the languages and cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The library holds 24 of his works, covering linguistics, mythology, and the decipherment of ancient scripts. His representative works include The Myths of the New World, a survey of New World mythologies; A Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics and The Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan, which examine Maya writing and Yucatec phonetic signs; and Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, a collection and translation of ancient Mexican Nahuatl poems. He also wrote The Lenâpé and Their Legends and The Books of Chilan Balam, dealing with Delaware traditions and Maya documents. Grounded in primary sources, his writing emphasizes the organization and comparison of linguistic materials, offering useful texts and descriptions for early research on the Indigenous Americas.