(1908 – 2009) French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. Levi-Strauss argued that the 'savage' mind had the same structures as the 'civilized' mind and that human characteristics are the same everywhere. These observations culminated in his famous book Tristes Tropiques (1955) which established his position as one of the central figures in the structuralist school of thought. 'TRISTES TROPIQUE WAS NEVER PURPORTED TO BE AN ACCURATE BOOK...' Excellent content A.L.S. on his professional letterhead, 1p. 4to., Paris, Aug. 18,1961 in English to a 'Mr. Goodwin' discussing key points of his seminal work, 'Tristes Tropique'. In part: '...Tristes Tropique was never purported to be an accurate book, rather the opposite. Not an anthropological treatise ...but a book about the anthropologist himself who reacts personally to what he hears and and sees and constantly distorts the objective reality. I never pretended to describe Fire Island, but rather to day-dream about it, and to offer a kind of mythopoetic image of it without any pretense to scientific truth. The same holds for many other passages of the book...it is not a book about Indians, Brazil, India, or the tropics, but a book about me...No one will quarrel a modern painter for the picture he will make...he is free to interpret it as he sees fit. So did I, well knowing that I was not writing a geographical or sociological paper!...' Fine condition. 'Tristes Tropique', published six years earlier, was well-received. The organizers of the Prix Goncourt lamented that they were not able to award Levi-Strauss the prize because the work was technically non-fiction. Georges Bataille wrote a favorable review and Susan Sontag classed it as one of the 20th century's 'great books'.