Books by Peter (University of Virginia) Metcalf

The remarkable longhouses of Borneo remain mysterious. This book provides an answer by integrating the oral histories of communities with colonial records. The key factor was a trade system stretching to China, via the ancient trading city of Brunei, which shaped the political and religious institutions of longhouse communities.

This revised edition of a cross-cultural study of rituals surrounding death has become a standard text in anthropology, sociology and religion. Part of its fascination is that in understanding other people's death rituals we are able to gain a better understanding of our own. The authors refer to a wide variety of examples, from different continents and epochs.