The Greatest Books of All Time on Anthropology

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
905 Coming of Age in Samoa Margaret Mead 1928 American English
1075 The Kon-Tiki Expedition Thor Heyerdahl 1948 Norwegian Norwegian
1141 The Golden Bough James George Frazer 1890 British English
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1681 The Teachings Of Don Juan Carlos Castaneda 1968 American English
2666 The Mismeasure of Man Stephen Jay Gould 1981 American English
3036 Less Than Angels Barbara Pym 1955 British English
5007 Dance Hall Of The Dead Tony Hillerman 1973 American English
5614 The Mushroom At The End Of The World Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing 2015 American English
5662 The Evolution Man Or How I Ate My Father Roy Lewis 1960 British English
5977 1491 Charles C. Mann 2005 American English
6381 A Voyage Round The World Georg Forster 1777 German German
6951 The Invention Of Africa V. Y. Mudimbe 1988 Congolese English
9031 The Storyteller Mario Vargas Llosa 1987 Peruvian Spanish
9073 Euphoria Lily King 2014 American English
9720 No Enemy But Time Michael Bishop 1982 American English
10064 The Mountain People Colin M. Turnbull 1972 British English
10110 Blackberry Winter Margaret Mead 1972 American English
10305 The Gift Marcel Mauss 1925 French French
10397 The Bog People P. V. Glob 1965 Danish Danish
10439 Limbo Carobeth Laird 1975 American English
10846 Homo Necans Walter Burkert 1972 German German
11661 With A Daughter's Eye Mary Catherine Bateson 1984 American English
13360 The Travels And Researches Of Alexander Von Humboldt William MacGillivray 1832 German English
14676 Men Of The Old Stone Age Henry Fairfield Osborn 1915 American English
15835 First Footsteps in East Africa Richard Burton 1856 British English
15903 Tell My Horse Zora Neale Hurston 1938 American English
15903 Themis Jane E. Harrison 1912 British English
17130 Structural Anthropology Claude Lévi-Strauss 1958 French French
17130 The Raw and the Cooked Claude Lévi-Strauss 1964 French French
17130 Cannibalism Bill Schutt 2017 American English
17130 Dawn of Art Jean-Marie Chauvet 1995 French French
17130 Threatening Anthropology David H. Price 2004 American English
17130 Soma Gordon Wasson 1968 Unknown English
17130 War Before Civilization Lawrence H. Keeley 1996 American English