For roughly 99% of their existence on earth, Homo sapiens lived as small bands of hunter-gatherers in societies that appear to have solved problems of production, distribution, social equity, and environmental sustainability that our own culture seems incapable of addressing. Limited Wants, Unlimited Means examines the hunter-gatherer society and lifestyle, providing a brief introduction to the rich literature on non-agricultural societies. It examines the economics of traditional societies and presents a multifaceted investigation of how such societies function and what that can teach us in our own quest for sustainability and equality.
Limited Wants, Unlimited Means
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more |
| |||||||||||||||
 Sell Back Your Copy for $6.75
Whether you buy it used on Amazon for $24.95 or somewhere else, you can sell it back through our Book Trade-In Program at the current price of $6.75.
Used Price$24.95
Trade-in Price$6.75
Price after
Trade-in$18.20 |
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $5 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
insightful and timely,
By A Customer
This review is from: Limited Wants, Unlimited Means: A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment (Paperback)
This is a wonderful collection of articles on economic anthropology. The book begins with the seminal article by Marshall Sahlins' on the "original affluent society" which debunked the myth that pre-agricultural life was "short, nasty and brutish". Monographs by Richard Lee and Lorne Marshall that originally appeared in 'Man the Hunter' are included. The main thrust of the book is that primitive cultures had found a way of living on this planet that was sustainable, but in the neolithic era our farming ancestors abandoned this way of living for a much more ardous life-style that is ecologically unsustainable. What was the basis for this change? This book explores some of the canonical assumptions in our economic thought and how it differs fundamentally from that of primitive cultures. This is a great starting point for anyone interested in paradigms for sustainable development. References and further reading lists are particularly useful.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
highly underrated reader,
By Anarcho-Savagist (Milwaukee) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Limited Wants, Unlimited Means: A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment (Paperback)
this book completely destroys from front to back and should be a starting point for anyone interested in egalitarian / immediate return hunter-gatherers and band life. the book does a fabulous job of starting out with an excerpt from Marshall Sahlins' "the original affluent society", the key to upturning the anthropology world on its head. the book goes over mechanisms of hunter-gatherer life that keeps them autonomous, cooperative bands and displays how relationships within them are fluid, neglecting them of leaders. James Woodburn's works from the Hadza on this are crucial on the comparison between immediate return and delayed return societies. Women's status is covered by the late Eleanor Leacock and the book is concluded with an essay by Paul Shepard entitled "A post-historic primitivism" that completely shreds historical consciousness.
John Gowdy did an amazing job at putting all these essays together in such a coherent way throughout covering so much ground. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers is a good companion to this.
4 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
its ok if you are an economist,
By ikata (Oglom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Limited Wants, Unlimited Means: A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment (Paperback)
but kinda dry if you are not. still, the information is very useful
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
If economics is the dismal science, the study of hunting and gathering economies must be its most advanced branch. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
original affluent society, cosmic economy, cultural propositions, foraging societies, band societies, gatherers today, mongongo nuts, food quest, original affluent societies, future eaters, unlimited wants, gathering societies, natural agencies, foraging peoples, ethnographic atlas Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Cambridge University Press, Arnhem Land, Current Anthropology, Kung Bushmen, Kung San, Academic Press, New Guinea, Nyae Nyae, University of Chicago Press, American Anthropologist, Richard Lee, James Woodburn, University of California Press, Australian Aborigines, Fish Creek, Harvard University Press, North America, Gary Snyder, Hemple Bay, New Haven, Upper Paleolithic, Tim Ingold, American Anthropological Association, Columbia University Press New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
If economics is the dismal science, the study of hunting and gathering economies must be its most advanced branch. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
original affluent society, cosmic economy, cultural propositions, foraging societies, band societies, gatherers today, mongongo nuts, food quest, original affluent societies, future eaters, unlimited wants, gathering societies, natural agencies, foraging peoples, ethnographic atlas Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Cambridge University Press, Arnhem Land, Current Anthropology, Kung Bushmen, Kung San, Academic Press, New Guinea, Nyae Nyae, University of Chicago Press, American Anthropologist, Richard Lee, James Woodburn, University of California Press, Australian Aborigines, Fish Creek, Harvard University Press, North America, Gary Snyder, Hemple Bay, New Haven, Upper Paleolithic, Tim Ingold, American Anthropological Association, Columbia University Press New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
7
books
cite this book:
See all 7 books citing this book
- Man the Hunter by Irven Devore on 21 pages
- Stone Age Economics by Marshall Sahlins on 7 pages
- Kung of Nyae Nyae by Lorna J. Marshall on 5 pages
- Soviet and Western Anthropology by Ernest Gellner on page 200, page 217, and page 280
- Risk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Economies (Westview Special Studies) by Elizabeth Cashdan on page 189, page 197, and page 199
See all 100 books this book cites
- Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America by David Petersen in Back Matter
- The Local Politics of Global Sustainability by Thomas Prugh on page 86
- Desert Peoples: Archaeological Perspectives by Peter Veth on page 31
- Heartsblood by David Petersen in Back Matter
- Economies and Cultures: Foundations of Economic Anthropology by Richard R Wilk in Back Matter
See all 7 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
So You'd Like to...
|
|
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Business & Investing > Economics
- Books > Business & Investing > Popular Economics
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Business & Finance
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Biology & Life Sciences > Ecology
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Science & Mathematics > Environmental Studies
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Social Sciences > Anthropology
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science > Public Policy
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Government > Public Policy
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences
- Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Ecology
- Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
- Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Conservation
