The Interpretation of Cultures - Softcover

Geertz, Clifford

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465093558 ISBN 13: 9780465093557

Publisher: Basic Books, 2017

Synopsis

A classic work of anthropology that offers a groundbreaking exploration of what culture is

Named one of the 100 most important books published since World War II by the Times Literary Supplement 

“As an anthropologist, philosopher, political scientist, literary critic, and all-around, all-star intellectual, Clifford Geertz helped a vast public make sense of the human condition.” —Robert Darnton, New York Review of Books 

With The Interpretation of Cultures, the distinguished anthropologist Clifford Geertz developed the concept of thick description, and in so doing, he virtually rewrote the rules of his field. Culture, Geertz argues, does not drive human behavior. Rather, it is a web of symbols that can help us better understand what that behavior means. A thick description explains not only the behavior, but the context in which it occurs, and to describe something thickly, Geertz argues, is the fundamental role of the anthropologist. 
 
Named one of the 100 most important books published since World War II by the Times Literary Supplement, The Interpretation of Cultures transformed how we think about others’ cultures and our own. This definitive edition, with a foreword by Robert Darnton, remains an essential book for anthropologists, historians, and anyone else seeking to better understand human cultures.

About this title

About the Author

Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) was a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His book Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1988. 

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465093558
• ISBN 13: 9780465093557
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 576