Marvin Harris
Why do Hindus worship cows? Why do Jews and Moslems refuse to eat pork? Why did so many people in post-medieval Europe believe in witches? One of America’s leading anthropologists answers these and other perplexing questions about human behavior, showing that no matter how bizarre a people’s behavior may seem, it always stems from identifiable and intelligible sources. “…lifestyles which others claimed were totally inscrutable actually had definite and readily intelligible causes. The main reason why these causes have been so long overlooked is that everyone is convinced that ‘only God knows the answer’…. We have been taught to value elaborate ‘spiritualized’ explanations of cultural phenomena more than down-to-earth material ones.”