Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle

“The authors of this timely and stimulating volume have taken on the task of raising an issue that is surely thought about a great deal but rarely discussed publicly. . . . [T]he authors and editors of this volume ought to be commended for opening an important discussion about the elephant in the room.” - Peter G. Toner, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

"[T]his book provides a challenging and creative set of 'reflections.' . . . This volume will be appreciated by any serious student of anthropological history or the anthropology of intellectual life. It will be welcomed by anyone looking to define contemporary anthropology and chart its future course." - Daniel Reichman, Journal of Latin American Anthropology

“A provocative and problematizing look at the history and present state of anthropology in the United States, a century after the ‘sacred bundle’ was first questioned by its patron saint and uniquely preeminent practitioner, Franz Boas. Revolutionary in editorial intent, diversely dialogical in the essays themselves, this volume should be read and pondered by all those interested in the future of anthropology and its role in general intellectual discourse.” - George W. Stocking Jr., Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago

“Anthropology is perhaps the last of the great nineteenth-century conglomerate disciplines still for the most part organizationally intact. Long after natural history, moral philosophy, philology, and political economy have dissolved into their specialized successors, it has remained a diffuse assemblage of ethnology, human biology, comparative linguistics, and prehistory, held together mainly by the vested interests, sunk costs, and administrative habits of academia, and by a romantic image of comprehensive scholarship. In this intense, precise, and sharply written book, six leading anthropologists from a variety of subfields question both the logic and the effectiveness of such sentimental ‘holism’ and produce a powerful critique of their profession's mythology.” - Clifford Geertz, Institute for Advanced Study

"Unwrapping the Sacred Bundle is another round in a much-needed and, if honest, visceral public conversation. Although published in 2005 and anchored by the 2000 AAA panel’s work, the volume provokes a conversation as fresh and infuriating now as it was back then."  - Tracie Mayfield, Transforming Anthropology