An incomparable retrospective of writings by one of the world's great anthropologistsClifford Geertz (1926-2006) was perhaps the most influential anthropologist of our time, but his influence extended far beyond his field to encompass all facets of contemporary life. Nowhere were his gifts for directness, humor, and steady revelation more evident than in the pages of the New York Review of Books, where for nearly four decades he shared his acute vision of the world in all its peculiarity. This book brings together the finest of Geertz's review essays from the New York Review along with a representative selection of later pieces written at the height of his powers, some that first appeared in periodicals such as Dissent, others never before published.This collection exemplifies Geertz's extraordinary range of concerns, beginning with his first essay for the Review in 1967, in which he reviews, with muffled hilarity, the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. This book includes Geertz's unflinching meditations on Western academia's encounters with the non-Western world, and on the shifting and clashing places of societies in the world generally. Geertz writes eloquently and arrestingly about such major figures as Gandhi, Foucault, and Genet, and on topics as varied as Islam, globalization, feminism, and the failings of nationalism.Life among the Anthros and Other Essays demonstrates Geertz's uncommon wisdom and consistently keen and hopeful humor, confirming his status as one of our most important and enduring public intellectuals.

Introduction: The Comic Vision of Cliff ord Geertz 1


Part I: Sages and Anthropologists
1967 On Malinowski 15
1969 On Gandhi 21
1978 On Foucault 29
1992 On Genet 39
2001 Ethnography in China 47


Part II: Islams and the Fluidity of Nations
1971 In Search of North Africa 61
1975 Mysteries of Islam 71
1985 The Last Arab Jews 81
1989 House Painting: Toutes Directions 88
1990 On Feminism 101
2000 Indonesia: Starting Over 112
2001 On the Devastation of the Amazon 123
2003 Which Way to Mecca? Part I 135
2003 Which Way To Mecca? Part II 145
2005 On the State of the World 157


Part III: Th e Idea of Order: Last Lectures
2001 Th e Near East in the Far East 169
2002 An Inconstant Profession 185
2004 What Is a State If It Is Not a Sovereign? 200
2005 Shifting Aims, Moving Targets 219
2005 What Was the Th ird World Revolution? 236


Acknowledgments and Editorial Details 253
Notes 255
Index 265