The Xavánte in transition : health, ecology, and bioanthropology in central Brazil /

In this excellent volume, four anthropologists approach a Brazilian tribe from complementary perspectives to produce a marvelously synthetic and comprehensive account of their biological status. The ten chapters begin by situating the Xavante geographically, ecologically, and historically, then branch out into genetics, life history, subsistence, and health. The book is extremely cohesive in spite of having four authors, and is particularly valuable in situating the Xavante through time, neither freezing them in the past nor lamenting their possible extinction. Indeed, the book's take-home message is that these people are highly adaptable, and, while having special needs in health care, they are likely to continue to survive and play a role (like other indigenous peoples) in the modern multicultural Brazilian state. The volume is also a noteworthy benchmark for a new, socially conscious, and responsible biological anthropology as set forth in Goodman's and Leatherman's edited volume, Building a New Biocultural Synthesis (CH, Jun'99). This book is therefore a significant union of traditional studies of human biology and the intellectually cutting-edge approaches being called for in anthropology. ^BSumming Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. Marks University of North Carolina at Charlotte