This anthology offers ethnographies from classical anthropology and the more familiar settings of the agrarian Midwest, the Mexican border, the Rust Belt, and the frontiers of the recent economic meltdown. Editors E. Paul Durrenberger and Suzan Erem have compiled readings from classic works by Bronislaw Malinowski, Eric R. Wolf, Ward Goodenough, Marvin Harris, and Marshall Sahlins alongside new writings by contemporaries like Alan Sandstrom, Lisa Gezon, Josiah Heyman, and Dimitra Doukas in order to provide a clear and riveting introduction to the anthropology of contemporary societies.

These carefully selected articles illustrate how a variety of anthropologists approach such topics as religion, family, commerce, history, power, and wealth. An introduction to each essay helps students relate their own lives to the ethnographies and assists instructors in opening students' minds to replace prejudice with understanding, ethnocentrism with cultural relativism, and indifference with enthusiasm.