Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski (1884-1942) was a Polish-born anthropologist. Known for his ethnographic work in Oceania in the early twentieth century, his consequent publications in England and Europe earned him repute as a leading developer of social anthropology. Originally published in 1929, this book is regarded as a significant anthropological work of the twentieth century. Based on Malinowski's studies of Melanesian society on the Trobriand Islands off New Guinea, it chronicles the social and economic practices and customs of a rapidly vanishing race. Read & Co. Science is proudly republishing this vintage work now in a brand new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.