Bronis aw 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.