Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches The Riddles of Culture [Paperback]

One of America's leading anthropolgists offers solutions to the perplexing question of why people behave the way they do.

Why do Hindus worship cows? Why do Jews and Moslems refuse to eat pork? Why did so many people in post-medieval Europe believe in witches?

Marvin Harris answers these and other perplexing questions about human behavior, showing that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from identifiable and intelligble sources.Marvin Harris taught at Columbia University from 1953 and from 1963 to 1966 was Chairman of the Department of Anthropology.  He has lectured by invitation at most of the major colleges and universities in the United States. In addition to field work in Brazil, Mozambique, and Ecuador on the subjects of cross-cultural aspects of race and ethinic relations, the effects of colonialism, and problems of underdevelopment seen in ecological perspective, Harris pioneered in the use of videotape techniques in the study of family life in this country.

Author of several books, among them the influentialRise of Anthropological Theory: A History of Theories of Cultureand the popoular undergraduate textCulture, Man and Nature: An Introduction to General Anthropology, Harris wrote frequently forNatural Historymagazine and was a frequent contributor to the professional journals,American Anthropologist andCurrent Anthropology.  His others books inlcueCannibals and Kings andCultural Materialism.US