Discover Christmas gifts we know they'll love
The Reinvention of Humanity

The Reinvention of Humanity

How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Remade Race, Sex and Gender

Summary

*THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY NAYEF AL-RODHAN PRIZE 2020*


The riveting story of the pioneers who redefined conceptions of 'normality' in the early twentieth century.

Under the guiding eye of cultural anthropologist Franz Boas, these scientist-explorers - most of them women - made intrepid journeys into far-flung communities all over the world, where they documented radically different social approaches that overturned Western assumptions about human diversity and
challenged the era's scientific consensus.

Here, the boundary-breaking lives and achievements of Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Ella Deloria and Zora Neale Hurston are brought fully into light for the first time, showing how their trailblazing discoveries helped shape the moral universe we inhabit today.

*WINNER OF THE FRANCIS PARKMAN PRIZE 2020*

*FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS 2019*

Reviews

  • Magnificent ... In this brilliantly written and deftly organised book, Charles King tells the story of how the study of humankind [was revolutionised] in the first half of the 20th century
    Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

About the author

Charles King

Charles King is Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University where he teaches a popular course called ‘Ethnicity, Race, and Nation'. His many books include Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul, a 2014 New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, winner of a National Jewish Book Award in 2011. His writing has appeared in the TLS, New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The New Republic and other publications.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more