Author Description

From Library Journal Kinser's book is a great accomplishment. It is a social science work on a topic of broad interest that will gain the respect of his scholarly colleagues and be accessible to the general public. Though to most Americans, Mardi Gras is associated only with the days before Ash Wednesday and New Orleans, Kinser has done extensive fieldwork and historical research demonstrating the depth of the festival and its role along the Gulf Coast more generally. He applies current anthropological theory in a way that will be comprehensible to general library readers. Magden's photographs serve to make a good book better. - David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.