Nonfiction work

By: Franz Boas

Date: 1911

Source: Boas, Franz. The Mind of Primitive Man. Rev. ed. New York: Macmillan, 1938, 3–6, 15–18.

About the Author: Franz Boas (1858–1942) was born in Minden, Germany, but moved to the United States at age twenty-eight. His first job in New York was as editor of the prestigious journal Science. He later went on to serve as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the governing body that still publishes the journal today. He filled several teaching posts before settling at Columbia University. He established the International Journal of American Linguistics and was one of the founders of the American Anthropological Association.

Introduction

In The Mind of Primitive Man, Boas examines in detail what was meant by the terms race and culture in the early twentieth...