Anthropology ‒ the study of human beings and their cultures ‒ is deeply rooted in Western experience. This book serves as a concise introduction to the subject.

It begins with antiquity, continues through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and reaches the 19th century, when anthropological thought takes on a more coherent and systematic form.

The second updated edition primarily focuses on the 20th and 21st centuries, presenting all the currents of American, British, and French anthropological tradition.

It also includes chapters on the theory of archaeology, physical anthropology, and cultural anthropology, while extensively covering the subfields of archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology.