Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture [Paperback]

Marvin Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 1989

This book challenges those who argue that we can change the world by changing the way people think. Harris shows that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from concrete social and economic conditions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This book challenges those who argue that we can change the world by changing the way people think. Harris shows that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from concrete social and economic conditions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reissue edition (December 17, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679724680
• ISBN-13: 978-0679724681
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, fascinating and logical, January 16, 2000

By 

Diane P. Levine (Los Angeles Pierce College, Woodland Hills, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture (Paperback)

I first read this book as "light" reading when I was a graduate student in anthropology. Now, as an anthropology instructor, I assign it as a textbook in a course on Religion, Magic and Witchcraft. It proposes logical and fascinating solutions to such puzzles as (1) why Hindus are better off going hungry than slaughtering and eating their cattle,(2) why religions of the Middle East have made pork taboo, while cultures of the South Pacific organize their ritual life around pork feasts, and (3) in what way are New Guinea cargo cults, the 12 disciples of Jesus, the European witch trials, and the popularity of New Age beliefs of today the results of similar cultural pressures.

This is the first book I have ever assigned in class that students have asked if they may read all at once, instead of a chapter a week. They can't put it down!

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful and Entertaining Analysis of Cultures, April 10, 1999

By 

Peter A. Farrell (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture (Paperback)

I've read this book twice already, and on the third time, I'm still getting new perspectives from Harris' masterful analysis of puzzling cultural phenomena like religious dietary restrictions (why are cows sacred and pigs aren't?), cargo cults (why are some countries rich and others poor?), and witch hunts (what did religion have to do with it?). All the quick explanations for these phenomena we were given in school were, at best, oversimplified and incomplete. The reviewer who wrote that the book debunks mythology could also have been referring to the mythology believed by historians, scientists, and adademics. Harris occasionally turns the microscope on our own culture and the assumptions we hold and the explanations we accept for things we don't understand. He takes on the sacred cows of anthropology and history, including Sacred Cows, and presents a new paradigm for understanding each subject.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slaying the Sacred Cows, July 6, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture (Paperback)

First published in 1973, Marvin Harris' book suffers slightly from time lag (it closes with a refutation of the now-defunct counterculture movement), but is otherwise wholly engaging and undeniably fascinating. Tackling the "Most Wanted List" of anthropology's mysteries, Harris plunges in by explaining the practical socio-economic origins of the cliched "sacred cows" of India, then keeps on going through the reasons for religious dietary restrictions and on into the relationship between secular pressures, leaders and the many faces of messianism from the Middle East to the Middle Ages. His explanations are meticulously constructed, eminently reasonable and provide fuel for many a debate.

Written in an open and accessible style, COWS, PIGS, WARS & WITCHES is aimed toward the academic community, but doesn't read that way at all. Though it references classic anthropological works such as Ruth Benedict's PATTERNS OF CULTURE, the book is careful to seed the rest of the text with explanation, thus keeping the more scholarly aspects of the work from alienating readers from the "outside" and deep-sixing the book's readability.

In short, Harris' book is a solid addition to any reader's library, provided his unflinching analysis of some of the more common "sacred cows" doesn't offend.