Margaret Mead: A Life

I use this product in order to read it

This is a BIG book about an equally big life. I would recommend A Life to any one interested in Margaret Mead and/or the life of an anthropologist.I am only part way through the book, but am learning a great deal about this intellectually gifted woman who was not afraid to question the social customs of the times in which she lived. Imagine a woman in the 1920's who refused to change her last name when she married. Unheard of!! Even her father was very angry about it. She seemed to mesmerize the men she married -all three of them. Mead was no great beauty, nor glamorous. She was much appreciated for her intellectual ability and dedication to her work. I find it a interesting that she very much wanted to be a mother. Her own mother, an intellectual and college graduate, had five children. This did not interfere with her work and intellectual endeavors. She also was a woman not held back by gender or social custom. She was not around much as Margaret and her siblings grew up. One would think resentment regarding the absence of mother would affect Margaret's desire to be a mother. BUT - she was a mother much the way her own mother was -not present a lot in her only child's growing up years. This is a fascinating look at the 20th century's most fascinating social scientist.

I like Ms. Howard's way of describing things in life. She has a great honest style.

The book was great but I didn't always like Margaret Mead. As someone in the field of Anthropology I had long admired her, but after reading this I realized that what we were told in our Anthro classes didn't really cover who she was-at least in truth. I still admire her and her work, but now I realize how much more she was than her work.

After reading Euphoria which is a fictional story based on Margaret Mead, I decided to read this biography. This book is a well written account of the life of the marvelous Margaret Mead. I loved it!

As described.

Excellent well researched biography. This book was the inspiration for the novel Euphoria

Excellent book. Enjoyed learning about her childhood.