L©vi-Strauss

"Emmanuelle Loyer has produced a meticulously researched, intelligent and sensitive biography worthy of her subject, one of the greatest Francophone intellectuals of the twentieth century. Critical yet generous, her portrait of Claude Levi-Strauss rings true and comes alive on the page."
—Michael Harkin, University of Wyoming

"The inspiration that continues to spring forth from the work of Levi-Strauss is a mystery to many anthropologists. He has told us of the many influences on his work, and commentators have argued for yet others, but they don't really account for his extraordinary originality and independence. Emmanuelle Loyer's thorough account of his life and work may help us resolve this wonderful puzzle."
—Maurice Bloch, London School of Economics

"This is the first true biography of one of the greatest French intellectuals of the twentieth century, who lived to be 100 years old and who finished his life covered in glory and honours. Emmanuelle Loyer's book is a marvel of intelligence that holds the reader's attention from beginning to end."
—Elisabeth Roudinesco, Le Monde

"Loyer's biography offers an unprecedentedly rich sense of the man."
—Financial Times

"Loyer offers a vivid portrait of the anthropologist and his time. But she also invites us to imagine how Levi-Strauss might endure as a thinker for our century, as much for his own."
—Boston Review

"deeply researched . . . engaging and engaged"
—The New York Review of Books

"Emanuelle Loyer’s 744 page biography has achieved the seemingly impossible. This detailed, deeply researched, and relatively accessible volume makes it difficult to imagine that anyone will attempt a more exhaustive biography in the future. If they did, I am not sure what they could add to Loyer’s account. While many aspects of Levi-Strauss’s life still await specialized treatment, I am confident that this book will become the definitive one-volume biography of Levi-Strauss for the foreseeable future."
—History of Anthropology