Review
"This concise and elegantly written book examines how chiefs develop and maintain political power in prestate complex societies, or what anthropologists commonly refer to as chiefdoms. . . . [It] is path-breaking in its sophisticated dissection of the relationship between ideology and other sources of power that narrows the gap between cultural evolutionary, Marxist, symbolic, and human agency theories of complex society development."—The Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Sciences
"In the present volume, Earle weaves together variation and pattern to bring us the very best of anthropology. . . . [Earle's] latest work is a powerful synthesis of theory and data that leaves us with both a better understanding of the political economy of chiefdoms and a solid foundation for future research into critical questions about the origins and maintenance of centralized polities and systems of social control."—American Anthropologist
Product Description
By studying chiefdoms—kin-based societies in which a person’s place in a kinship system determines his or her social status and political position—this book addresses several fundamental questions concerning the nature of political power and the evolution of sociopolitical complexity. In a chiefdom, the highest-status male (first son by the first wife) holds both authority and special access to economic, military, and ideological power, and others derive privilege from their positions in the chiefly hierarchy.
A chiefdom is also a regional polity with institutional governance and some social stratification organizing a population of a few thousand to tens of thousands of people. The author argues that the fundamental dynamics of chiefdoms are essentially the same as those of states, and that the origin of states is to be understood in the emergence and development of chiefdoms. The history of chiefdoms documents the evolutionary trajectories that resulted, in some situations, in the institutionalization of broad-scale, politically centralized societies and, in others, in highly fragmented and unstable regions of competitive polities. Understanding the dynamics of chiefly society, the author asserts, offers an essential view into the historical background of the modern world.
Three cases on which the author has conducted extensive field research are used to develop the book’s arguments—Denmark during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages (2300-1300 b.c.), the high Andes of Peru from the early chiefdoms through the Inka conquest (a.d. 500-1534), and Hawaii from early in its settlement to its incorporation in the world economy (a.d. 800-1824). Rather than deal with each case separately, the author presents an integrated discussion around the different power sources. After summarizing the cultural history of the three societies over a thousand years, he considers the sources of chiefly power and how these sources were linked together. The ultimate aim of the book is to determine how chiefs came to power and the implications that contrasting paths to power had for the evolutionary trajectories of societies. It attributes particular importance to the way different power bases were bound together and grounded in the political economy.

This book provides readers with the first survey of social conditions since the opening of the borders between China and mainland Southeast Asia in the early 1990s, which saw radical changes in the economic policies of the various states involved, in particular, China, Vietnam, and Laos. Each chapter provides a close-up survey of a particular area and problem, but cumulatively they provide an invaluable general picture of social and cultural change in the border regions where China meets Southeast Asia.

Drawing on a range of examples from Western and developing cultures, this book offers a re-reading of the contemporary society as the product of both individual and collective identity and behaviour. Marxist interpretations of the expansion in the range and number of material goods have tended to view people as estranged from the objects they produce, while massive consumption reinforces the fragmented and individualistic nature of capitalism. In this book, the author develops a more positive theory of material culture, revealing the creative potential in the relationship between people and goods. He argues that rather than being oppressed by them, people redefine material objects to make them express themselves and their cultures. He shows that everyday objects reflect not only personal tastes and attributes, but also moral principles and social ideals.

First Farmers: the Origins of Agricultural Societies offers readers an understanding of the origins and histories of early agricultural populations in all parts of the world.
Uses data from archaeology, comparative linguistics, and biological anthropology to cover developments over the past 12,000 years
Examines the reasons for the multiple primary origins of agriculture
Focuses on agricultural origins in and dispersals out of the Middle East, central Africa, China, New Guinea, Mesoamerica and the northern Andes
Covers the origins and dispersals of major language families such as Indo-European, Austronesian, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo and Uto-Aztecan

How to Read Ethnography is an invaluable guide to approaching anthropological texts. Laying bare the central conventions of ethnographic writing, it helps students to develop a critical understanding of texts and explains how to identify and analyse the core ideas in order to apply these ideas to other areas of study. Above all it enables students to read ethnographies anthropologically and to develop an anthropological imagination of their own. Combining lucid explanations with selections from key texts, this excellent guide is ideal reading for those new to the subject or in need of a refresher course. Includes excerpts from key ethnographies Offers balanced and progressive reader activities and exercises Provides reading exercises, a glossary and full chapter summaries Teaches an independent approach to the study of anthropology

本书为研究中国当代文学的重要学术著作，曾在20世纪90年代引起很大反响，被很多高校列为当代文学专业的学习参考书。本书出版后，许多报刊曾发表文章予以评介，称其为中国当代先锋文学研究的开拓之作。
本书极富个人色彩，创造性地将史料考证、作品审美分析与理论思辨结合起来，生动、深入且诗意地论证了中国当代先锋文学思潮的来龙去脉、审美特征及内在逻辑关系，提出了许多颇具学术价值的新见。
本书修订版在原作基础上，纳入了作者近年来对相关问题的重新审视与思考，可谓一次新的归纳和总结。