Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth in Western Civilisation.

MEAD, Margaret. Foreword by Franz Boas.

$950.00

Item Number: 117021

New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc, 1949.

First paperback edition, first printing of Mead’s pioneering work which, upon publication, established her as the most famous anthropologist in the world. Small octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Signed and dated by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “Margaret Meade November 1949.” In near fine condition. Jacket design by Robert Jonas. Rare, particularly signed.

Upon publication, Coming of Age in Samoa drew both enormous popular attention and academic interest, establishing Mead as a leading figure in American anthropology and generating a heightened awareness of ethnographic study in the United States. Based on a 9-month study conducted in a small village of 600 people on the island of Ta'ū, the easternmost island of Samoa, Meade used her findings to assert her theory that culture had a leading influence on psycho-sexual development. The work was so ground-breaking in that it was one of the first anthropological texts based on immersive fieldwork as well as one of the first studies to use cross-cultural comparisons to highlight issues within Western society. The study became a leading text in the nature versus nurture debate, as well as in discussions on issues relating to family, adolescence, gender, social norms, and attitudes.