In introducing basic concepts of cultural anthropology, Bodley challenges students to consider "big questions" about the nature of cultural systems, to explore relationships between growth, scale, and power, and to critically assess how commercialization, development, humanitarian concerns, and environmental issues are affecting our global future.

Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Introduction 1. Adventures in the Field: Episode One 2. Culture: A Scale & Power Perspective Part II. The Tribal World: Before the State 3. Australian Aborigines: Mobile Foragers for 50,000 Years 4. Native Amazonians: Villagers of the Rain Forest 5. African Cattle Peoples: Tribal Pastoralists 6. Tribal World Mind, Body, and Soul: Cross-Cultural Perspectives Part III. The Imperial World: The End of Equality 7. Pacific Islanders: From Leaders to Rulers 8. Ancient Empires: Elite Power in Mesopotamia & the Andes 9. Asian Great Traditions: Ideological Foundations 10. Scale Limits: The Breakdown of States Part IV. The Commercial Global System 11. Europe and the Commercial World 12. American Plutocracy: Capitalism in the United States Part V. Conclusions 13. An Unsustainable & Impoverished World 14. Envisioning a Sustainable World Glossary Bibliography Index About the Author

John Bodley's Cultural Anthropology stands well apart from many other introductory texts. It combines sweeping perspective and grand narrative with wide-ranging cross-cultural and historical data to provide a clearly focused anthropological perspective on our modern world. Bodley does more than introduce anthropology; he shows students how to apply it. -- Joshua S. Levin, College of Southern NevadaJohn Bodley's text is solid, incisive, and wise. He puts anthropology into the context of the social sciences, enabling teachers and students alike to grasp its relevance in the world to come. -- Michael Blim, City University of New YorkJohn Bodley's textbook, now in its sixth edition, is by far the best introductory survey of cultural anthropology ever published! It offers integrated, thorough, and balanced topical and regional coverage of the diversity and unity of humankind; scientific and humanistic aspects; materialist and mentalist approaches; enduring traditional and recent contemporary questions, problems, and issues; theories and methods; and the ethnographic and comparative dimensions of scale, power, and other attributes of tribal, state, and global systems. Bodley challenges students to think critically about their generally unexamined beliefs and practices. In an increasingly interconnected world, this is a vital read not only for every student majoring in anthropology, but ideally for any informed citizen. -- Leslie Sponsel, University of Hawai`i, author of Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet RevolutionBodley's analysis and writing is completely accessible and empowering. This sixth edition of Cultural Anthropology is thoughtful, with examples relevant to the times, and engages the reader from the first page to the last. I especially appreciate the consistent structure of each chapter - identifying and discussing the central concepts up front rather than burying definitions and detail in an endnote; situating the learning in larger stories that illustrate the life of an anthropologist and the many reasons why an anthropology of power matters; and concluding each chapter with suggestions for how the reader can further apply the lessons in this chapter in their own life as a student and beyond. Simply put, this is an elegant and teachable text that will both inform and inspire. -- Barbara Rose Johnston, Center for Political Ecology, Santa Cruz