Author Description

This is the ultimate resource for geographically locating the myriad of cultures described in ethnographic literature. The heart of Atlas of World Cultures: A Geographical Guide to Ethnographic Literature is a set of forty-one maps that physically locate for the researcher more than 3500 groups, tribes or peoples. For any student or professional reading ethnographic or cross-culture research, this feature alone is invaluable. The author does more by providing a comprehensive index and a 1237-item bibliography that enables the reader to go beyond geographic location and find some of the classic literature on each of these groups. Cross references to listings of the cultures in the Human Relations Area Files and Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas provide other keys to learning more about the culture in question and makes this a crucial reference research tool. "The author of this ethnic atlas is to be congratulated for producing a highly sophisticated, yet easy to use reference work that will serve those with the most basic needs as well as researchers initiating more involved studies. The very highest recommendation for all college, university and larger public libraries." (Choice) "This is an amazing piece of work. The author presents the location of over 5,000 cultural groups around the globe, and includes and extensive bibliography linking these peoples with ethnographic literature. The book is vital for any anthropologist or scholar of the developing world. This has become a standard reference work for cross-cultural research projects and even the human genome project." (Amazon reviewer) [from the Amazon description of the paperback edition]