Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict: The Kinship of Women - Tapa dura

"A respectful interpretation of a singular relationship between two world-famous anthropologists. . . . Feminist scholars, anthropologists, and students of that post-WWI era when gender roles were in motion will appreciate this complex tale". -- Kirkus Reviews

This is the story of the extraordinary friendship between renowned anthropologists Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict. First as mentor and protegee, later as colleagues and lovers, these two women forged a bond that endured for 25 years, defying convention as well as easy categorization. Drawing on a range of sources, including correspondence between Mead and Benedict, Hilary Lapsley seeks to reconstruct this complex relationship and situate it in the context of its time. She explores the ways in which Mead's and Benedict's professional work grew out of concerns in their own lives - about sexuality and friendship, identity and difference. Lapsley also shows how Mead and Benedict used their anthropological studies to call attention to the cultural foundations of American life, Benedict seeking to make the world more tolerant of deviance and Mead to liberate the individual from the artificial constraints of gender and race. Overall, the book offers to chart the course of a relationship that persisted in the face of numerous obstacles, including separation of long duration, the competing claims of other partners, secrecy about lesbianism, the tensions of professional rivalry, and the clash of different personalities.