Patterns of Culture

A remarkable introduction to cultural studies as relevant today as it was in 1934, Ruth Benedict's groundbreaking study is the book that first brought the concept of "culture" to lay readers. In this fascinating work, Benedict compares the cultures of three peoples: the Kwakiutl of western Canada, the Zuni of the southwestern United States, and the Dobuans of Melanesia. Featuring an introduction by Franz Boas, a preface by Margaret Mead, and a foreword by Mary Catherine Bateson, Patterns of Culture shows the importance culture has on everyday life.

RUTH BENEDICT (1887–1948) was one of the twentieth century’s foremost anthropologists and helped to shape the discipline in the United States and around the world. Benedict was a student and later a colleague of Franz Boas at Columbia, where she taught from 1924. Margaret Mead was one of her students. Benedict’s contributions to the field of cultural anthropology are often cited today.