Books by Marvin Harris

An unprecedented interdisciplinary effort suggests that there is a systematic theory behind why humans eat what they eat.

This book is about cults, crime, and shoddy goods, and the shrinking dollar. It's about porno parlors, and sex shops, and men kissing in the streets. It's about daughters shaking up, women on the rampage, marriages postponed, divorces on the rise, and no one having kids. It's about old ladies getting mugged and raped, people shoved in front of trains, and shoot-outs at gas pumps. And letters that take weeks to get delivered, waiters who throw food at you, rude sales help, and computers that bill you for things you never bought. It's about broken benches, waterless fountains, cracked windows, dirty toilets, crater-filled roads, graffiti-covered buildings, slashed paintings, toppled statues, stolen books. It's about shoelaces that break in a week, bulbs that keep burning out, pens that won't write, cars that rust, stamps that don't stick, stitches that don't hold, buttons that pop off, zippers that jam, planes that lose their engines, reactors that leak, dams that burst, roofs that collapse... It's about astrologers, shamans, exorcists, witches, and angels in space suits... It's about a lot of other things that are new and strange in America today. —from the Introduction

This text presents Marvin Harris' view on the nature of culture, and offers a materialist perspective on contemporary issues including the IQ question and the fall of communism.

One of America''s leading anthropolgists offers solutions to the perplexing question of why people behave the way they do.Why do Hindus worship cows? Why do Jews and Moslems refuse to eat pork? Why did so many people in post-medieval Europe believe in witches?Marvin Harris answers these and other perplexing questions about human behavior, showing that no matter how bizarre a people''s behavior may seem, it always stems from identifiable and intelligble sources.

This text traces the history of anthropology and anthropological theory, and argues for the use of a scientific, behavioural-based approach to the understanding of human culture known as cultural materialism.