Dustin M. Wax

Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War isn’t out yet (coming next month, I hope!) but already it’s gotten some nice press coverage! Joshua Glenn, a blogger at the Boston Globe, writes of the problems faced by anthropologists struggling to outline our position in relation to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Perhaps the answer is somewhere in Wax’s forthcoming book, “Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War” (Pluto, May 2008), a collection, edited by Wax, of historical essays on “the relationship between the various factors characterizing the Cold War period and the development of anthropology at the time.” Sounds good to me!

I’m not sure I or any of the other contributors featured in the book offer a solid answer to the issues raised by anthropologists involved in military and intelligence work, but I do think we offer a significant contribution to the debate. I appreciate Glenn’s comments — maybe he (or some other Globe writer) will think about writing a review when the book comes out? (hint, hint)