Margaret Mead

School Library Journal

Margaret Mead's fascinating life is well documented and evaluated in this balanced biography. Growing up in an unconventional academic family in which a triangle of authority figures (mother, father, and grandmother) exerted strong personalities molded her natural independence of mind and spirit. Castiglia clearly delineates how Mead carried the unique influences of each of them through her life. The chapter on Mead's initial field work in Samoa is a detailed account of her struggles to obtain the assignment and her courage and skill in carrying out the demanding, lonely task. Marriages and career intertwined in Mead's life, and Castiglia does an admirable job of introducing the complexities Mead faced in meshing the two. The author presents a mature balance of her subject as a personality, innovator, scientist, friend, wife, and mother. The extraordinary quality of her life rings clear. Black-and-white photographs are adequate. Definitions are inserted into the text to aid students; they are an annoying intrusion, but perhaps a realistic acknowledgment of the needs of many readers. Susan Saunders' Margaret Mead (Viking, 1987), at less than half the length of Castiglia's book, serves a younger audience. --Jacqueline Elsner, Athens Regional Library, GA