Review of "Family," by Margaret Mead and Ken Heyman

Review of

Family, by Margaret Mead and Ken Heyman

Three out of five stars

 Written in 1965, the tone of the text reflects the sexism so prevalent of the time. This is summed up very well by the paragraph on page 100.

“Unlike the boy, whoe learns that he must go out into the world and make a place for himself by his own skill and bravery, the girl learns that her own body is the stage on which, first of all, she will act out he successes and her failures. Unlike the boy who flexes his arms and tenses the muscles with which he will tauten a bow string, wield an axe, rein in a horse, or brake a car, a girl may meditatively stroke her own skin as she wonders what kind of woman she will be and whether a child will ever stir in her.”

 The book is essentially  constructed from short sections of a few pages of text with the title os something about familial relationships followed by a set of photos of people in action taken in various countries. The images depict people engaged in activities that match the descriptions in the text.

 If you can get past the sexism, the images are interesting and comforting. However, many modern readers will find the text somewhere between annoying and offensive.