What Kinship Is-And Is Not (The University of Chicago Press)

What Kinship Is-And Is Not offers, on its surface, a simple theoretical argument, laid out in the titles of its mere two chapters: kinship is culture, not biology. But along the way to proving his point, Marshall Sahlins engages a dazzling array of thinkers, from Aristotle to Emile Durkheim to Marilyn Strathern, bolstering that conversation with an equally dazzling array of ethnographic examples from around the globe. The result is a thrilling combination of clarity and erudition almed at the heart of human relationships and their meaning.