To Cherish the Life of the World

May 15, 2006
I find I can't get up much enthusiasm for rules," cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote in 1933, in a letter addressed to her female lover, Ruth Benedict, about the tension between her then husband, Reo Fortune, and future husband, Gregory Bateson. A free but highly disciplined spirit dedicated to discovering new cultures and practicing the tenets of open love, Mead was also a prolific writer, whose collected letters have been combined into one volume by Caffrey and Francis, respectively an associate professor at the University of Memphis and curator of a Mead exhibit at the Library of Congress. Assembled with the aid of Mary Catherine Bateson, Mead's only daughter, the cultural anthropologist's vivid dispatches have been categorized by recipient. Addressees include her Philadelphia family, all three of her husbands and several lovers, both male and female, on topics ranging from changing colleges to quelling rumors about her numerous affairs. While Mead's personal relationships tend to be the focus, these connections (particularly with her second and third husbands) were closely intertwined with her professional life. But there is little doubt as to Mead's true obsession: as the writer herself noted to Benedict in 1928, "I think the work is so much more important than any personal issue." Photos.

June 15, 2006
Caffrey (history, Univ. of Memphis; "Ruth Benedict: Stranger in This Land") and Francis, curator of an exhibition on Mead at the Library of Congress, rifled through what must have been a great pile of material to make this selection of anthropologist and writer Margaret Mead's personal correspondence, dating from 1919 to 1978. Following a foreword by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson, the letters are arranged chronologically within such categories as -Family, - -Husbands, - -Lovers, - -Friends, - -Colleagues, - and -Kith and Kin, - which is confusing, given that many people in Mead's life played two or three of those roles over time. Most of the letters deal with personal relationships (Mead's letters from Samoa to her advisor, Franz Boas, have been published elsewhere). On its own, this collection does not have enough continuity or context to paint a complete portrait of Mead, but it does illuminate some of her intimacies and habits. Recommended for academic libraries and larger public libraries; with a 16-page black-and-white insert. -Lisa Klopfer, Eastern Michigan Univ. Lib., Ypsilanti

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2006
It's clear in her expressive and thoughtful letters that pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-78) made no distinction between professional and personal pursuits, belief and action. The unity and passion of her unusual, paradigm-altering life and work are vividly conveyed in her missives to family, lovers (men and women), friends, and colleagues. This discerning if somewhat confusingly ordered collection begins when Mead goes away to college and continues throughout her sojourns in Samoa, New Guinea, Bali, and the Admiralty Islands; the ups and downs of three marriages and various affairs; and the writing of her momentous books. Mead's forthright correspondence documents the golden years of anthropology and one woman's great courage in defying convention. Manifest at every phase are Mead's independence, curiosity and receptivity; healthy approach to sexuality; and profound fascination with relationships, the foundation for her radical insights into human nature. As Mead's daughter, anthropologist and writer Mary Catherine Bateson, notes in her radiant foreword, her mother "treasured the people in her life." It is also obvious that Mead dearly loved life itself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)