Coming of age in Samoa : a psychological study of primitive youth for western civilisation / Margaret Mead.

Originally published: William Morrow and Co., 1930.

Includes index.

Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book. When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike. Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa. It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she was just twenty-three, where she did her first fieldwork. Here, for the first time, she presented to the public the idea that the individual experience of developmental stages could be shaped by cultural demands and expectations. Adolescence, she wrote, might be more or less stormy, and sexual development more or less problematic in different cultures. The "civilized" world, she taught us had much to learn from the "primitive." Now this groundbreaking, beautifully written work as been reissued for the centennial of her birth, featuring introductions by Mary Pipher and by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson. Annotation. Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book. When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike. Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa. It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she was just twenty-three, where she did her first fieldwork. Here, for the first time, she presented to the public the idea that the individual experience of developmental stages could be shaped by cultural demands and expectations. Adolescence, she wrote, might be more or less stormy, and sexual development more or less problematic in different cultures. The "civilized" world, she taught us had much to learn from the "primitive." Now this groundbreaking, beautifully written work as been reissued for the centennial of her birth, featuring introductions by Mary Pipher and by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson. Annotation. Reprint of Mead's classic, which is cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed.

Words for a new century / by Mary Catherine Bateson -- Introduction to the Perennial Classics edition -- Foreword / by Franz Boas, 1928 Preface to the 1973 edition -- Introduction -- A day in Samoa -- The education of the Samoan child -- The Samoan household -- The girl and her age group -- The girl in the community -- Formal sex relations -- The attitude towards personality -- The experience and individuality of the average girl -- The girl in conflict -- Maturity and old age -- Our educational problems in the light of Samoan contrasts -- Education for choice -- Appendix I: Notes to chapters -- Appendix II: Methodology of this study -- Appendix III: Samoan civilisation as it is to-day -- Appendix IV: The mentally defective and the mentally diseased -- Appendix V: Material upon which the analysis is based. A. Sample record sheet ; B. Table I: Showing menstrual history, sex experience and residence in pastor's household ; C. Table II: Family structure, and analysis of table ; D. Intelligence tests used ; E. Check list used in investigation of each girl's experience.