Uncommon Lives: My Lifelong Friendship with Margaret Mead [Hardcover]

Patricia Grinager (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

Few women of this century have been more ahead of their time than Margaret Mead. She awakened in people an awareness of global patterns of behavior on topics as diverse as sexual mores, food and culture, health and education. She spoke authoritatively to political and scientific issues as far-ranging as war and space travel.
In this vivid and deeply personal portrait of Mead’s brilliance, her foibles, humor, and her private reactions to friends and enemies, Uncommon Lives traces the intertwined lives of two remarkable women. As one of Mead’s few life-long confidants, Grinager breaks through Mead’s indomitable professional demeanor to reveal the woman behind this most unique thinker, who not only commanded the attention and respect of her fellow scientists but also influenced generations of women around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Margaret Mead had one of the most interesting minds of this century. This is a memoir of this fascinating woman based on a lifetime friendship, not news clips and articles. Don't miss it! (Pat Schroeder )

Patricia Grinager's uncommon biography of her teacher and friend Margaret Mead is a welcome addition to the Mead legacy. Mead was a proto-feminist (though she would have hated any epithet that narrow) leaving for the women coming of age in the 1960s her studies of sex-roles in three societies of New Guinea and an insatiable curiosity on our part about what it was like to be a full-time scholar/adventurer in the years between the first and second waves of feminism . . . . This volume allows us to peer in to Mead as a teacher and a friend. (Sheila Tobias )

A uniquely personal story of a beautiful friendship . . . . Dr. Grinager tells a story of living and dying and discovers how dying is a part of living. Her backstage, intimate portrait of the incredible Margaret Mead deserves special attention as the world prepares for the Mead centennial in 2001. (Dillon, Wilton S. )

Grinager weaves the story of her own life into her memoir of Mead. Her re-creation of Mead does not spare Mead's flaws, but it is full of genuine affection and admiration. . . . two unusual personalities come through. (R. Berleant-Schiller CHOICE )

About the Author

Patricia Grinager received her Ph.D. in Anthropology and Education from Stanford University in 1964. Over the years she has held positions as associate professor at the University of Delaware and the University of Wisconsin, and at Columbia as the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid and Dean of Students for the School of General Studies. She currently resides in Palo Alto, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; First Edition edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847693783
• ISBN-13: 978-0847693788
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,074,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the best portrait of margaret mead's personality, February 16, 2001

By 

Daniel Metraux (staunton, va United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Uncommon Lives: My Lifelong Friendship with Margaret Mead (Hardcover)

Margaret Mead shared our home for the last thirty years of her life and was my godmother. My mother, Rhoda Metraux, worked as her collaborator and partner.

Margaret Mead was a fascinatingly complex person. The late Pat Grinager kept a detailed diary of her lengthy friendship with Mead and understood her personality very well. What we have here is a very well developed study of Mead's personality. If you want to know what kind of person Mead really was, you will find it here.

One brief story that tells one a lot about Dr. Mead. I once asked her to define the word, "Success" as in "Who is a Successful Person?" She replied, "That's easy. A successful person is one who before he dies, brings happiness to another person....who improves the life of a fellow human being."