The American Anthropological Association during its past century has borne witness to profound social, cultural, and technical changes, transformations that have affected anthropologists and their consultants across the planet. Anthropology in the twenty-first century continues to evolve in response to such global changes; it is an increasingly complex and sophisticated discipline, with a dynamic range of flourishing sub-specializations. Contained in this volume are memorable glimpses of the 77 men and women who have led the American Anthropological Association during the past century. These include Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Anthony F. C. Wallace, John Swanton, Dell Hymes, A. L. Kroeber, Edward Sapir, Margaret Mead, Roy Rappaport, Clark Wissler, A. I. Hallowell, Leslie White, Frederic Ward Putnam, and Annette Weiner. The Association's presidents include a roster of influential scholars from different sub-specializations of anthropology and they cumulatively reflect integral trends in interpretive thought and fieldwork methodology that have emerged over the past ten decades.
For each president there is a photograph and a biography replete with personal anecdotes, career highlights, and information about his or her contribution to the development of the discipline of anthropology. Important works by each president are listed separately in the back of the volume. Regna Darnell is a professor of anthropology at the University of Western Ontario. She is the author of And Along Came Boas: Continuity and Revolution in Americanist Anthropology and Invisible Genealogies: A History of Americanist Anthropology (Nebraska 2001). Frederic W. Gleach is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Cornell University. He is the author of Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultures (Nebraska 1997).