The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology

In The Alternative Introduction to Biological Anthropology, author Jon Marks presents an innovative framework for thinking about the major issues in the field with fourteen original essays designed to correlate to the core chapters in standard textbooks. Each chapter draws on and complements--but does not reconstitute (except for the sake of clarity)--the major data and ideas presented in standard texts. Marks explores such topics as how we make sense of data about our origins, where our modern ideas comes from, our inability to separate natural facts from cultural facts and values as we try to understand ourselves, and the social and political aspects of science as a culturally situated mental activity.

Features

* Offers clear, intelligent, and completely original discussions-injected with a sense of humor-that will keep students reading
* Addresses core topics in a way that does not simply mirror what is in the basic textbooks but offers a new spin, thereby fostering critical thinking
* Complements traditional textbooks in biological anthropology and explores connections between biological and general anthropology
* Provides expert integration of topics, coherent narratives, and salient examples
* Utilizes theme statements at the start of each chapter that introduce the breadth of information covered and engage students in the material

Jon Marks is Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a past president of the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association and was the recipient of the AAA/Mayfield Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He is the author of Why I Am Not a Scientist: Anthropology and Modern Knowledge (2009); What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People, and Their Genes (2002), which won the 2003 W. W. Howells Prize from the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association and the 2009 J. I. Staley Prize from the School for Advanced Research; and Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History (1995).