Jonathan Benthall was Director of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1974-2000) and Founder Editor of Anthropology Today which succeeded RAINews (1974-84). In 1983 he was awarded the Anthropology in Media Award by the American Anthropological Association.

'These forty-nine papers, spanning 25 years, are collected under the title The Best of Anthropology Today and make genuinely interesting reading, both on the diversity of studies and for the historical shifts of interest that the discipline makes.' - Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory

• Acknowledgements. List of Figures., Preface Marshall Sahlins Introduction Jonathan Benthall, Part I: Feminine Power, 1. Feminine Power at Sea Silvia Rodgers, 2. 'Ladies' Behind Bars: A Liminal Gender as Cultural Mirror John M. Coggeshall, 3. Dyke to Dyke: Ritual Reproduction at a US Men's Military College Abigail E. Adams 4. Formal Men, Informal Women: How the Fulani Support Their Anthropologists Danièle Kintz, POT POURRI 1: TOWARDS A RADICAL REFORM OF EDUCATION, Part II: Indigenes' Rights, Anthropologists' Roots 5. Ethnocide: A Report from Columbia Stephen Corry, 6. 'Ethnocide' Lucy Mair, 7. Ethnocide and Ethnocentricity - Correspondence Stephen Corry and Lucy Mair, 8. Critical Re-vision: Clastres' Chronicle and the Optic of Primitivism Bartholomew Dean, 9. Doing Justice to Clastres Jon Abbink, POT POURRI 2: A NEW OCCULT SCIENCE Part III: Fieldwork as Intervention, 10. Nomadism and its Future: the Afar Glynn Flood, 11. Anthropology and the Nomad: Another View of the Afar A. F. Robertson, 12. Development in Ethiopia Glynn Flood, 13. The Flood-Robertson Exchange: A Brief Comment Christopher Clapham, 14. 'The Mountain People' as Tribal Mirror John Knight 15. The White 'Helpers': Anthropologists, Development Workers and Local Imaginations, POT POURRI 3: FEBRUARY 1988, Part IV: Markets of Desire 16. In and Out of Polyester: Desire, Disdain and Global Fibre Competitions Jane Schneider, 17. 'Caritas' and the Reconceptualization of Money in Romania Katherine Verderey, POT POURRI 4: AUGUST 1988, Part V: Anthropology in the Mass Media, 18. Aliens, Apemen and Whacky Savages: the Anthropologist in the Tabloids Mark Allen Peterson 19. Anthropology's Identity Crisis Chris Shore, 20. 'We Are All Neighbours Pat Caplan, 21. Ancient Mysteries and the Modern World Marcus Banks, POT POURRI 5: THE GREAT ANT-EATER'S ATTRACTIONS, Part VI; New Social Movements 22 Fission and Fusion in Nuclear Society Michael Thompson 23. Correspondence Lionel Caplan, Michael Thompson, Charles Leslie, 24. Whale Politics and Green Legitimacy: a Critique of the Anti-whaling Campaign Arne Kalland, 25. Return of Love: Everyday Life and African Divination in Paris Liliane Kuczyniski, 26. The Sacrifice of 'Id al-kabir: Islam in the French Suburbs Anne-Marie Brisebaree, POT POURRI 6: MUSEUMS OF THE UNDERSIDE, Part VII: Human Sciences in Authoritarian States, 27. The Schwidetzky Affair Jonathan Benthall, 28. Two Separate Developments: Anthropology in South Africa, 1980 John Sharp, 29. Mythologized Representations in Soviet Thinking on the Nationalities Problem Slawoj Szynkiewicz, 30. Human Origins, Myanmafication and 'Disciplined' Burmese Democracy, POT POURRI 7: THE RAW, THE COOKED AND THE MARILYNATED, Part 8: The Technology of Enchantment, 31. Technology and Magic Alfred Gell, 32. Lying and Deceit Mary Douglas, 33. A Murderous Fascination James Lewton-Brain, 34. 'Bye-bye Ted...' Community Response in Florida to the Execution of Theodore Bundy, J. Anthony Paredes and Elizabeth D. Purdum, 35. The Paradoxes of Monarchy Declan Quigley, 36. Dry Bones: Nationalism and Symbolism in Contemporary Israel Alex Weingrod, POT POURRI 8: HARD-WIRED HUMAN SCIENCE, OR COGNITIVE FLUIDITY Part IX: War and Civil Strife, 37. Genocide in Rwanda Alex de Waal, 38. Correspondance and Commentary Johan Pottier and Alex de Waal, 39. Anthropological Knowledge and Collective Violence Veena Das, 40. Argentina and the 'Islas Malvinas': Symbolism and the Threat to Nationhood Julie Taylor, 41. Anthropologists in the Midst of Conflicts Anatoly M. Khazanov. Notes on the contributors., Index art I: Feminine Power