The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley [Paperback]

John W. Cole (Author), Eric R. Wolf (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520216814 | ISBN-13: 978-0520216815 | Publication Date: October 11, 1999 | Edition: 1

This award-winning classic in the study of ethnicity, identity, and nation-building has a new introduction (on which Eric Wolf collaborated near the end of his life) that shows the continuing validity of the book's innovative approach to ethnography, ecology, culture, and politics. The authors investigated two Alpine villages--the German-speaking community of St. Felix and Romance-speaking Tret--only a mile apart in the same mountain valley.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A most impressive work, a weighty contribution to the study of peasant life and an ingenious and entirely convincing blend of ecology and history, of the small-scale and the large." -- F. G. Bailey, Contemporary Sociology

"The fascination of the book lies in the manifest differences between two communities which have shared the same environmental preconditions. Although the physical obstacles to agricultural productivity and population pressures have been very similar for both villages, family structure, work organization, and political practices have differed substantially." -- Jrg K. Siegenthaler, Journal of Modern History

"Two very distinctive 'types of nation formation' emerge from the comparison. . . . There is a great deal in The Hidden Frontier that will be of interest to political scientists, economic and social historians, and anthropologists." -- Benjamin R. Barber, Reviews in European History

About the Author

John W. Cole is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, President of the Northeastern Anthropology Association, and author or editor of four books in addition to The Hidden Frontier. Eric R. Wolf's many books include the influential Europe and the People Without History (California, 1982) and Envisioning Power: Ideologies of Dominance and Crisis (California, 1998).

Product Details

• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 11, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520216814
• ISBN-13: 978-0520216815
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars just as stated, May 23, 2011

By 

Kenif - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley (Paperback)

The book I purchased arrived in the "near new" condition as stated in the advertisement. Very pleased with purchase and the seller.

3.0 out of 5 stars Understand the culture of the South Tyrol, November 30, 2008

By 

M.M. Rodenbucher "Larry" (Philly suburbs) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley (Paperback)

This is an academic treatise from a few decades ago. Let that be said right off the bat. It was recommended to me while I was in the South Tyrol (at the regional museum in the village of Dorf Tirol in 1988) when it was an obscure book available to me only in the reference section of the Free Library of Philadelphia (I could only read it in the reading room). Now I own my own copy, and having read it, I understand a lot more about the nature of the South Tyroleans as a part of Italy (which neither they nor the rest of Italy really want to acknowledge). So, on return visits (several), I have been better able to understand why the villages just south of the old Austrian border look and act differently than those to the north. If you have been, or are going, to the Sud-Tirol (Italian: Alto Adige) and really want to understand it, this book will help you. If you want a tour guide, look elsewhere.