A Very Personal Method Anthropological Writings Drawn From Life

This is a priceless addition to the oeuvre of one of Britain's best known anthropologists. Who would have imagined that a lifetime of writing between the lines could be brought together as something so uniquely powerful, wicked and charming as this book. Richard Fardon has found Mary Douglas's words in all kinds of places, in all states of preparedness, enrolling many audiences and sometimes none -- and from the informal to the outrageous, from feelings to convictions, from wit to sarcasm. Running like a commentary alongside her major publications, it is as much an illumination of her world as of herself.
Professor Marilyn Strathern
University of Cambridge

Mary Douglas gives unprecedented insights here into her formation, her reasons, her attachments and convictions; the material ranges widely, from some superb uncollected essays to unusually revealing interviews. The intellectual acerbity for which she was celebrated is undercut by the affections she shows, and her stringent endorsement of orderliness lightened by marvellous wit and empathy. The book is an exhilarating anthology, from a wise woman who has no peer, and whose thinking continues to resonate in the discipline of anthropology and far beyond.
Marina Warner
Professor, Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, University of Essex