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| Title | Rate | Reviews |
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| 1
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Guns, Germs, and Steel : The Fates of Human Societies
Jared Diamond
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Current:
9.5 |
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biolog
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| 2
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The Proper Study of Mankind : An Anthology of Essays
Henry Hardy
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Current:
9.5 |
"Only barbarians are not curious about where they come from, how they came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether they wish to go there, and if so, why, and if not, why not." So wrote Isaiah Berlin in "The Pursuit of t
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| 3
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Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors : A Search for Who We Are
Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
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Current:
9.5 |
"Dazzling...A feast. Absorbing and elegantly written, it tells of theorigins of life on earth, describes its variety and charaacter, and culminates in a discussion of human nature and teh complex traces ofhumankind's evolutionary past...It
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| 4
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Man Eating Bugs : The Art and Science of Eating Insects
Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio
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Current:
9.3 |
Conventional wisdom holds that our dietary habits are mostly set by the time we reach age 5. Perhaps this explains why the thought of eating insects sends the average Westerner into a fit of shudders and gagging. But entomophagy is practice
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| 5
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One River : Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest
Wade Davis
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Current:
9.3 |
Best known for The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wade Davis is an ethnobotanist interested in the native uses of plants, especially psychotropics. He finds many such plants in the travels he rec
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| 6
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Floods, Famines, and Emperors : El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations
Brian M. Fagan
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Current:
9.2 |
Before 1997, the name "El Niño" was unknown to most ordinary folks. Meteorologists, oceanographers, commercial fishers, and weather buffs knew of this periodic climatic anomaly, but to the everyday person on the street, a few degrees
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| 7
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Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches : The Riddles of Culture
Marvin Harris
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Current:
9.2 |
This book challenges those who argue that we can change the world by changing the way people think. Harris shows that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from concrete social and economic conditions. more]
[Submit] |
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| 8
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Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Jared Diamond
|
Current:
9.2 |
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biolog
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 9
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The Great Disruption : Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order
Francis Fukuyama
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Current:
9.1 |
Francis Fukuyama cements his reputation as a wide-ranging public intellectual with this big-think book on social order and human nature. Following his earlier successes (The End of History and the
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 10
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Throwim Way Leg : Tree-Kangaroos, Possums, and Penis Gourds-On the Track of Unknown Mammals in Wildest New Guinea
Tim F. Flannery
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Current:
9.0 |
In Throwim Way Leg, Australia-based mammologist-raconteur Tim Flannery recalls scientific expeditions in the wilds of New Guinea that convey both the thrill of discovery and the negotiations necessary to bridge huge clashes of cultur
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| 11
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The Alphabet Versus the Goddess : The Conflict Between Word and Image
Leonard Shlain(Preface)
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Current:
9.0 |
"Literacy has promoted the subjugation of women by men throughout all but the very recent history of the West," writes Leonard Shlain. "Misogyny and patriarchy rise and fall with the fortunes of the alphabetic written word." That's a pre
... [more]
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| 12
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Beyond Civilization : Humanity's Next Great Adventure
Daniel Quinn
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Current:
8.9 |
Futurist Daniel Quinn (Ishmael) dares to imagine a new approach to saving the world that involves deconstructing civilization. Quinn asks the radical yet fundamental questions about humanit
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| 13
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Summer for the Gods : The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion
Edward J. Larson(Preface)
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Current:
8.7 |
If you haven't seen the film version of Inherit the Wind, you might have read it in high school. And even people who have never heard of either the movie or the play probably know something
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| 14
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Shadows in the Sun : Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire
Wade Davis
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Current:
8.7 |
Renowned anthropologist Wade Davis shows us how preserving the diversity of the world's cultures and spiritual beliefs is just as important as preserving our endangered plants, insects, and animals. In this collection of personal essays, Da
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[Submit] |
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| 15
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The Alphabet Versus the Goddess : The Conflict Between Word and Image
Leonard Shlain
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Current:
8.6 |
"Literacy has promoted the subjugation of women by men throughout all but the very recent history of the West," writes Leonard Shlain. "Misogyny and patriarchy rise and fall with the fortunes of the alphabetic written word." That's a pre
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 16
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Our Babies, Ourselves : How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent
Meredith F. Small
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Current:
8.6 |
How we raise our children differs greatly from society to society, with many cultures responding differently to such questions as how a parent should respond to a crying child, how often a baby should be nursed, and at what age a child shou
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[Submit] |
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| 17
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The Silent Language
Edward T. Hall
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Current:
8.6 |
Leading anthropologist Edward Hall analyzes the many aspects of non-verbal communication amd considers the concepts of space and time as tools for transmission of messages in this fascinating study. The Silent Language is a work of interest
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[Submit] |
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| 18
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Beyond Culture
Edward T. Hall
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Current:
8.5 |
New dimensions of understanding and perception of human experience are opened in Beyond Culture. Noted anthropologist Edward Hall helps us to rethink our values in constructive ways. "A fascinating book."--Ashley Montagu. more]
[Submit] |
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| 19
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Chrysanthemum and the Sword : Patterns of Japanese Culture
Ruth Benedict, Ezra F. Vogel (Introduction)
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Current:
8.5 |
A recognized classic of cultural anthropology, this book explores the political, religious, and economic life of Japan from the seventh century through the mid-twentieth, as well as personal family life. more]
[Submit] |
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| 20
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The Mummies of Urumchi
E. J. W. Barber, Elizabeth Wayland Barber
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Current:
8.3 |
The 2000-year-old mummies of rmchi, found in central Asia along the famed Silk Road trading route, are so well preserved as to show clearly that they seem to be of Caucasoid origin. Where did these people come from? Where did they go? You
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| 21
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The Tulip
Anna Pavord
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Current:
8.3 |
In an auction held in Holland in February 1637, 99 lots of tulip bulbs fetched a staggering 90,000 guilders, more than $3.5 million in today's money. Tulipomania had reached its height, and its story is told in just one of the fascinating s
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| 22
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Cod : A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
Mark Kurlansky
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Current:
8.2 |
You probably enjoy eating codfish, but reading about them? Mark Kurlansky has written a fabulous book--well worth your time--about a fish that probably has mattered more in human history than any other. The cod helped inspire the discovery
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[Submit] |
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| 23
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The Symbolic Species : The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain
Terrence W. Deacon
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Current:
8.2 |
Terrence Deacon's The Symbolic Species begins with a question posed by a 7-year-old child: Why can't animals talk? Or, as Deacon puts it, if animals have simpler brains, why can't they develop a simpler form of language to go with th
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| 24
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Becoming Human: Evolution and Human Uniqueness
Ian Tattersall
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Current:
8.2 |
Monogamy. Bipedalism. Tools. Language. Intelligence. Why on Earth did we develop all those tricks? Though it's trendy to diminish the differences between humans and other species, most of us just can't help noticing our often-striking pecul
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[Submit] |
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| 25
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The Symbolic Species : The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain
Terrence W. Deacon
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Current:
8.1 |
Terrence Deacon's The Symbolic Species begins with a question posed by a 7-year-old child: Why can't animals talk? Or, as Deacon puts it, if animals have simpler brains, why can't they develop a simpler form of language to go with th
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 26
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The Hunting Apes : Meat Eating and the Origins of Human Behavior
Craig B. Stanford
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Current:
8.0 |
Most evolutionary biologists agree that what makes humans unique among animals is our brainpower. But why--and how--did we evolve our oversized brains? Craig Stanford dusts off the old "Man the Hunter" theory, roundly criticized as replete
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[Submit] |
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| 27
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Race, Class, and Gender : An Anthology
Margaret L. Andersen, Patricia Hill Collins
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Current:
7.9 |
This best-selling anthology examines the interrelationship of race, class, and gender and explores how they have shaped the experiences of all people in the U.S. Drawing from an array of contemporary and historical readings, coupled with pe
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[Submit] |
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| 28
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African Exodus : The Origins of Modern Humanity
Christopher Stringer, Robin McKie
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Current:
7.7 |
Ever since Darwin first suggested that humans are descended from apes, the theory of evolution has engendered a firestorm of controversy. But the schism between creationism and evolution is by no means the only source of disagreement; even
... [more]
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| 29
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Bones of Contention : Controversies in the Search for Human Origins
Roger Lewin
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Current:
7.6 |
No area of science has a higher incidence of colorful personalities than paleoanthropology. The Leakey family and more]
[Submit] |
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| 30
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Fetish : Fashion, Sex and Power
Valerie Steele
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Current:
7.5 |
Because this is Valerie Steele's second book on the topic of fetishistic clothing, her opening statements that she is an outsider to the paraphilias and perversions that she discusses seems a bit hollow. When she says that she is only "
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[Submit] |
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| 31
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African Exodus : The Origins of Modern Humanity
Christopher Stringer, Robin McKie
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Current:
7.5 |
Ever since Darwin first suggested that humans are descended from apes, the theory of evolution has engendered a firestorm of controversy. But the schism between creationism and evolution is by no means the only source of disagreement; even
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 32
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A Book of the Basques (Basque Series)
Rodney Gallop
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Current:
7.3 |
The notion of the cultural politics of social movements provides a lens for analyzing emergent discourses and practices grounded in society and culture, the state and political institutions, and the extent to which these may unsettle, or be
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 33
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Cultures of Politics Politics of Cultures : Re-Visioning Latin American Social Movements
Sonia E. Alvarez
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Current:
7.3 |
The notion of the cultural politics of social movements provides a lens for analyzing emergent discourses and practices grounded in society and culture, the state and political institutions, and the extent to which these may unsettle, or be
... [more]
[Submit] |
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| 34
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The Third Chimpanzee
Jared Diamond
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Current:
7.2 |
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| 35
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Dead Men Do Tell Tales : The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist
Michael Browning, William R. Maples
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Current:
7.1 |
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| 36
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Evolutionary Psychology : The New Science of the Mind
David M. Buss
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Current:
7.1 |
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| 37
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Phenomenon of Man
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
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Current:
6.9 |
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| 38
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Food of the Gods : The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge : A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution
Terence McKenna, Terrence McKenna
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Current:
6.9 |
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| 39
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Life and Death on Mt. Everest : Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering
Sherry B. Ortner
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Current:
6.9 |
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| 40
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The Book of the Penis
Maggie Paley
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Current:
6.9 |
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| 41
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Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 : The True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date
John Major Jenkins, Terence McKenna
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Current:
6.9 |
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| 42
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Medicinemaker: Mystic Encounters on the Shaman's Path
Hank Wesselman, Henry Barnard Wesselman
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Current:
6.8 |
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| 43
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Lucy : The Beginnings of Humankind
Donald C. Johanson, Maitland Armstrong Edey (Photographer)
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Current:
6.7 |
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| 44
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Writing at the Margin : Discourse Between Anthropology and Medicine
Arthur Kleinman
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Current:
6.6 |
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| 45
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Primate Adaptation and Evolution
John G. Fleagle
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Current:
6.5 |
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| 46
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Chinese Classical Furniture (Images of Asia)
Grace Wu Bruce, Grace Wu Bruce
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Current:
6.4 |
The notion of the cultural politics of social movements provides a lens for analyzing emergent discourses and practices grounded in society and culture, the state and political institutions, and the extent to which these may unsettle, or be
... [more]
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| 47
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Race, Class, and Gender in the United States : An Integrated Study
Paula S. Rothenberg
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Current:
6.4 |
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| 48
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The Territorial Imperative : A Personal Inquiry into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations (Kodansha Globe)
Robert Ardrey, Philip Turner
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Current:
6.3 |
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| 49
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Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Edward Malin
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Current:
6.3 |
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| 50
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Arrowheads and Spear Points in the Prehistoric Southeast : A Guide to Understanding Cultural Aritifacts
Linda Crawford Culberson, Jim Culberson (Illustrator)
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Current:
6.3 |
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