The Humanity Lab: A Story of Race, Culture, and the Promise of an American Idea
FAIN: FZ-250287-16
Charles E. King
Georgetown University (Washington, DC 20057-0001)
A book on anthropologist Franz Boas (1848-1942) and the role of his jazz-age New York circle in developing the revolutionary view of social customs in "foreign" cultures that came to be known as cultural relativism. The project addresses the resulting transformation in popular attitudes about race, sexuality, and gender over the last century.
The Humanity Lab is a work of intellectual and social history centered on a small band of contrarian social scientists working in jazz-age New York. Led by pioneering anthropologist Franz Boas and including such critical figures as Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict, this group pioneered a way of seeing the world that is only now coming into broad acceptance. Together, they were puzzling through the details of the theory they would come to call “cultural relativism.” The starting point was the idea that no social customs were advanced or retrograde, higher or lower. Each was, instead, a locally specific solution to some common human problem--an insight that stands alongside many of the great scientific advances of the 20th century. The project addresses the transformation in popular attitudes about race, sexuality, gender, and "foreign" customs over the last century and will result in a single-author book published by a commercial press and aimed at the serious general reader.
Media Coverage
How a Group of Heretical Thinkers Chipped Away at the Idea of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ (Review)
Author(s): Jennifer Szalai
Publication: New York Times
Date: 7/30/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/books/review-gods-of-upper-air-charles-king.html
The social scientists who transformed how we think about race and gender (Review)
Author(s): Rachel Newcomb
Publication: Washington Post
Date: 8/16/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-social-scientists-who-transformed-how-we-think-about-race-and-gender/2019/08/16/c3622dbc-a316-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.html
How A Few 'Renegade' Thinkers Helped Usher In A New Era Of Anthropology (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Charles King
Publication: National Public Radio
Date: 8/20/2019
Abstract: Author radio appearance on NPR's "Fresh Air"
URL: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752630522/how-a-few-renegade-thinkers-helped-usher-in-a-new-era-of-anthropology
Discussing "Gods of the Upper Air" (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Charles King
Publication: MSNBC Morning Joe
Date: 9/4/2019
Abstract: Author appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
URL: https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/discussing-gods-of-the-upper-air-68141125881
The anthropologist who changed our thinking on race (Review)
Author(s): Gillian Tett
Publication: Financial Times
Date: 8/7/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.ft.com/content/9d722c24-b8a6-11e9-8a88-aa6628ac896c
The Students of Sex and Culture (Review)
Author(s): Alison Gopnik
Publication: Atlantic
Date: 8/1/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/zora-neale-hurston-margaret-mead/592783/
Margaret Mead and the birth of anthropology (Review)
Author(s): John Carey
Publication: Times (London)
Date: 11/17/2019
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-reinvention-of-humanity-by-charles-king-review-margaret-mead-and-the-birth-of-anthropology-q0tnzcjnv
Papa Franz’s People (Review)
Author(s): Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Publication: Literary Review
Date: 12/1/2019
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://literaryreview.co.uk/papa-franzs-people
G&Ts on the Veranda (Review)
Author(s): Francis Gooding
Publication: London Review of Books
Date: 3/4/2021
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n05/francis-gooding/g-ts-on-the-veranda
How renegade anthropologists studied, celebrated 'the other' (Review)
Author(s): David Holahan
Publication: USA Today
Date: 8/5/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2019/08/05/gods-upper-air-charles-king-book-review/1878747001/
How Cultural Anthropologists Redefined Humanity (Review)
Author(s): Louis Menand
Publication: New Yorker
Date: 5/19/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/26/how-cultural-anthropologists-redefined-humanity
A revolution in anthropology (Review)
Author(s): Kathryn Hughes
Publication: Guardian
Date: 11/9/2019
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/09/reinvention-of-humanity-by-charles-king-review
Lines of thought (Review)
Author(s): Ira Bashkow
Publication: Times Literary Supplement
Date: 6/5/2020
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/reinvention-of-humanity-charles-king-book-review-franz-boas/
How women created anthropology (Review)
Author(s): Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Publication: New Statesman
Date: 12/4/2019
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2019/12/the-reinvention-of-humanity-how-women-created-anthropology
Charles King's engaging The Reinvention Of Humanity reveals how the sex life of American Samoans helped shape modern society (Review)
Author(s): Julia Llewellyn Smith
Publication: Daily Mail
Date: 12/21/2019
Abstract: Review of UK edition of Gods of the Upper Air (The Reinvention of Humanity)
URL: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-7805283/Charles-Kings-engaging-Reinvention-Humanity-shows-Samoan-sex-life-shaped-modern-society.html
You Got to Go There to Know There (Review)
Author(s): Adam Kuper
Publication: Wall Street Journal
Date: 8/16/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gods-of-the-upper-air-review-you-got-to-go-there-to-know-there-11565967881
The Defender of Differences (Review)
Author(s): Kwame Anthony Appiah
Publication: New York Review of Books
Date: 5/28/2020
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/05/28/franz-boas-anthropologist-defender-differences/
How One Anthropologist Reshaped How Social Scientists Think About Race (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Charles King
Publication: NPR "All Things Considered"
Date: 8/3/2019
Abstract: Author appearance on NPR's "All Things Considered"
URL: https://www.keranews.org/2019-08-03/how-one-anthropologist-reshaped-how-social-scientists-think-about-race
The Invention of Modern Anthropology (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Charles King
Publication: KERA Think
Date: 9/11/2019
Abstract: Author appearance on KERA's "Think"
URL: https://think.kera.org/2019/09/11/the-invention-of-modern-anthropology/
Pioneers of Cultural Relativism (Review)
Author(s): Patrick Iber
Publication: New Republic
Date: 8/14/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://newrepublic.com/article/154752/pioneers-cultural-relativism
Seeing the World from the Inside (Review)
Author(s): Wendy Smith
Publication: Boston Globe
Date: 8/7/2019
Abstract: Review of Gods of the Upper Air
URL: https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2019/08/07/seeing-world-from-inside-looking-out-gods-upper-air/Scax76A3tqZmh4qaUEiqSL/story.html
Associated Products
Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century (Book)Title: Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
Author: Charles King
Abstract: A group portrait of Franz Boas, the founder of cultural anthropology, and his circle of women scientists, who upended American notions of race, gender, and sexuality in the 1920s and 1930s--a sweeping chronicle of how our society began to question the basic ways we understand other cultures and ourselves.
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549852/gods-of-the-upper-air-by-charles-king/9780385542197/Primary URL Description: Publisher's website
Access Model: Not open access
Publisher: Doubleday
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-0385542197
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes
Prizes
Francis Parkman Prize
Date: 6/9/2020
Organization: Society of American Historians
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction
Date: 3/30/2020
Organization: Cleveland Foundation
Gin, Sex, Malaria, and the Hunt for Academic Prestige (Article)Title: Gin, Sex, Malaria, and the Hunt for Academic Prestige
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Excerpt from Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
http://www-chronicle-com/article/gin-sex-malaria-and-the-hunt-for-academic-prestige/Format: Other
Periodical Title: Chronicle of Higher Education Review
Genius at Work: How Franz Boas Created the Field of Cultural Anthropology (Article)Title: Genius at Work: How Franz Boas Created the Field of Cultural Anthropology
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Excerpt from Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/genius-work-how-franz-boas-created-field-cultural-anthropologyFormat: Magazine
Periodical Title: Columbia Magazine
The Anthropologists Who Upended the 'Science' of White Supremacy (Article)Title: The Anthropologists Who Upended the 'Science' of White Supremacy
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Overview of Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-anthropologists-who-upended-the-science-of-white-supremacy/2019/08/01/da0575c6-a314-11e9-b732-41a79c2551bf_story.htmlFormat: Newspaper
Periodical Title: Washington Post
When Zora Neale Hurston Studied Zombies in Haiti (Article)Title: When Zora Neale Hurston Studied Zombies in Haiti
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Excerpt from Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
https://zora.medium.com/when-zora-met-zombie-dbcf0fb45d11Format: Magazine
Format: Other
Periodical Title: Medium
Schule der Rebellen: Wie ein Kreis verwegener Anthropologen Race, Sex und Gender erfand (Book)Title: Schule der Rebellen: Wie ein Kreis verwegener Anthropologen Race, Sex und Gender erfand
Author: Charles King
Abstract: German translation of Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2021
Primary URL:
https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/schule-der-rebellen/978-3-446-26580-6/Publisher: Hanser Verlag
Type: Translation
Copy sent to NEH?: No
La riscoperta dell'humanita (Book)Title: La riscoperta dell'humanita
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Italian translation of Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2020
Primary URL:
https://www.einaudi.it/catalogo-libri/storia/storia-moderna/la-riscoperta-dellumanita-charles-king-9788806245795/Publisher: Einaudi
Type: Translation
Copy sent to NEH?: No
What Zora Went Looking For (Article)Title: What Zora Went Looking For
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Excerpt from Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2021
Primary URL:
https://www.neh.gov/article/what-zora-went-lookingFormat: Magazine
Periodical Title: Humanities
American Students Are Taught Racism Is Bad—But They're Still Not Learning the Truth About Race (Article)Title: American Students Are Taught Racism Is Bad—But They're Still Not Learning the Truth About Race
Author: Charles King
Abstract: Article on race and US education drawn from research for Gods of the Upper Air
Year: 2019
Primary URL:
https://time.com/5642773/american-students-taught-race/Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: TIME.com