Not Even Wrong: Margaret Mead, Derek Freeman, and the Samoans

by Martin Orans, L.L. Langness (Editor), Robert B. Edgerton (Editor)

softcover

190 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read all (I believe) of Margaret Mead's books before coming across and reading Derek Freeman's ostensible refutation of Mead's seminal book, Coming of Age in Samoa, which "made" Mead as an anthropologist and as a famous person, upon which she then became a celebrity and star. The current book analyzes both Mead's and Freeman's writings in a very detailed and apparently fair manner; he finds somewhat on the side of one, then the other, and he castigates both for appalling failure of scientific method. This book interested me because - after reading Freeman's book approximately 20 years ago - I wrote to him at his office in The Australian National University with questions, and he responded with documents and a kind letter. He was of great age at the time, and I have cherished what he sent me through the years.