Robert H. Lowie
Austrian-born American anthropologist (1883–1957), a key figure in the Boasian tradition. Known for influential ethnographic work on Native American societies, especially the Crow and other Plains peoples, and for major contributions to kinship, social organization, and cultural history. Author of works such as Primitive Society and The Crow Indians, and a longtime professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Primitive Society
An early twentieth-century anthropological survey that critiques unilineal evolution and champions historical particularism, drawing on wide-ranging ethnographies to analyze kinship, marriage, clan systems, totemism, law, property, political organization, economy, and religion in small-scale societies. It underscores the complexity and diversity of institutions often labeled “primitive,” challenging simplistic hierarchies and sweeping generalizations.
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2. Indians Of The Plains
A concise ethnographic survey of the North American Plains peoples, this work traces lifeways from prehorse times through the equestrian era into the reservation period. It explains subsistence centered on the buffalo hunt, tipi dwellings, kinship and political organization, warfare and raiding, trade and intertribal relations, and ceremonial life such as vision quests and the Sun Dance, while noting regional differences among groups. Drawing on historical sources and ethnographic records, it shows how environment, technology, and contact with Europeans reshaped social institutions and material culture. The result is an accessible synthesis of daily life, beliefs, and art across the Plains.
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