Customer Reviews

Freedom and Culture

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This book changed my life in the 1970s. I read it for a cultural anthropology course (the only one I ever took) and it completely opened my mind in regard to understanding that there are so many different perceptions of reality than those that the western world, and indeed speakers of English, have. The chapters on the different cultures - and especially how their language shapes their experience of time, relationships etc. is fascinating. I've read thousands of books in my lifetime, and even after 35 years, would still list this book as one of the five most important and influential books I've ever read. Don't miss it!

This book is incredible. My professor recommended reading Dorothy Lee for the paper I am writing for anthropological theory. I am very greatful for his recommendation as it is unlike most anthropological writing in that it is not only well written, but interesting. Lee is way ahead of her time in that she does not keep it a secret where she is coming from; she doesn't pretend to have no biases. She also does an incredible job of leaving her points open for interpretation, she does not claim to be the end all be all authority on the people she writes about.
This book should seriously be re-printed for 21st century readers who need a wake-up call just as much as the 1950s readers did.

I read this book thirty years ago. It both opened my mind to a view of being human that I'd never conceived of and gave me a view of living that I had been seeking my whole life. I read this book fifteen years ago and it changed forever the way I raised my son. Since then I have often thought of this book as the most important book I ever read.