Elsie Clews Parsons : Inventing Modern Life

Elsie Clews Parsons was a pioneering feminist, an eminent anthropologist, and an ardent social critic. In "Elsie Clews Parsons," Desley Deacon reconstructs Parsons's efforts to overcome gender biases in both academia and society. Wonderfully illuminating. . . . Parsons's work resonates strikingly to current trends in anthropology.OCoGeorge W. Stocking, Jr., "Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute" This is the biography of a woman so interesting and effectiveOCoa cross between Margaret Mead and Georgia O'Keeffe. . . . A nuanced portrait of this vivid woman.OCoTanya Luhrmann, "New York Times Book Review" A marvelous new book about the life of Elsie Clews Parsons. . . . It's as though she is sitting on the next rock, a contemporary struggling with the same issues that confront women today: how to combine work, love and child-rearing into one life.OCoAbigail Trafford, "Washington Post" Parsons's splendid life and work continue to illuminate current puzzles about acculturation and diversity.OCo"New Yorker""