Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This book,
Cora Du Bois: Anthropologist, Diplomat, Agent, deserves wide readership."—Laura Nader,
Los Angeles Review of Books"In the heavens of women in early anthropology, Cora Du Bois is generally eclipsed by the more famous Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict, but both her work and her life deserve our attention and admiration, and Susan Seymour gives her the biography that she merits."—Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database
"Seymour is a fine biographer and writer who makes the most of extraordinary sources to bring this intrepid woman to life in a readable book that belongs in all libraries."—R. Berleant-Schiller,
CHOICE"Seymour's meticulously researched biography on Cora Du Bois skillfully weaves together threads from a myriad of often obscure, intensely personal documents, to produce a magnificent reconstruction of the life and personality of this major anthropological figure."—Carol Mukhopadhyay,
Association for Feminist Anthropology"This biography of Cora Du Bois will be of interest to those concerned with the beginnings of the personality and culture school in early American anthropology; with the notable women anthropologists in this school; with the broader history of this anthropology, its central figures and its impact on theory and on fieldwork on both the west and east coasts; and with the history of science most generally of all."—Naomi Quinn,
Ethos"This book gives an excellent picture of a life, a time, and a profession."—Alice E. Schlegel,
American Anthropologist“This biography is a page-turner, with writing that is lively and vivid, and Cora’s own correspondence, journal entries, and poetry give the book a very ‘first-person’ feel. There’s a lot to learn here.”—Louise Lamphere, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, and past president of the American Anthropological Association
“Susan Seymour has produced a captivating, extremely well-written narrative that has much to offer multiple audiences that include anthropologists and students of the history of ideas and social science, but also more general readers interested in the biography of a brilliant, independent gay woman who forged an important career in an era when social obstacles made such accomplishments very rare.”—David H. Price, professor of anthropology and sociology at Saint Martin’s University and the author of Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Series Editors’ Introduction
Preface
Resources and Acknowledgments
Prologue: Cora and Me
Chapter 1. Tomgirl
Chapter 2. Escape and Resolve
Chapter 3. Becoming an Anthropologist
Chapter 4. Culture and Personality
Chapter 5. A Pioneer in Culture and Personality Research
Chapter 6. World War II and the OSS
Chapter 7. Disillusionment in the Cold War Era
Chapter 8. Harvard, Crown of Roses or Thorns?
Chapter 9. Sociocultural Change in India
Chapter 10. Looking Inward
Notes
Bibliography
Index
