S5 E4 Girls, girls: Mead ‘Growing up in Samoa’ (1928)

This short popular anthropology book made Margaret Mead into a prominent public intellectual. It’s full of radical ideas about family formation, gender roles and sexual expression. Written by a woman who believed in polygamy, it’s a wonder it took nearly 20 years for the Irish censors to ban it.

First edition cover art for ‘Coming of Age in Samoa’