Paul RadinDied 21 Feb 1959 at age 75 (born 2 Apr 1883).American anthropologist who was influential in advancing a historical model of primitive society based on a synthesis of economic and social structure, religion, philosophy, and psychology. He pioneered in such important fields of anthropology as culture- personality studies and the use of autobiographical documents. An accomplished linguist, he described a number of North American languages and advanced a classification scheme emphasizing their unity. He was particularly interested in the individuals within cultures. He secured, translated, and edited the first American Indian autobiography, Crashing Thunder: The Autobiography of an American Indian (1926), which is considered a landmark in anthropology. |
