New Lives for Old

This edition of New Lives for Old, prepared for the centennial of Mead's birth, features introductions by Stewart Brand and Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.

When Margaret Mead first studied the Manus Islanders of New Guinea in 1928, they were living with a Stone Age technology and economically vulnerable; they seemed ill-equipped to handle the massive impact that World War II had on their secluded world. But a unique set of circumstances allowed the Manus to adapt swiftly to the twentieth century, and their experience led Mead to develop a revolutionary theory of cultural transformation, one that favors rapid, over piecemeal, change. As relevant today as it was a half-century ago, New Lives for Old is an optimistic examination of a society that chose to change.

How could a Stone Age culture transform itself in a single generation—and what can their story teach our own rapidly changing world?
A Landmark Case Study: Follow Margaret Mead as she returns to the Manus people of New Guinea twenty-five years after her initial study to document one of the most astonishing transformations ever recorded.Rapid Cultural Transformation: Discover Mead’s revolutionary theory that a society can leap from Stone Age practices to twentieth-century life more successfully through rapid, all-encompassing change rather than slow, piecemeal evolution.The American WWII Impact: Witness the profound and unexpected effect of a million American GIs, whose technology and egalitarianism inspired the Manus to choose their own path to modernization.An Anthropology Classic: Explore the optimistic and deeply human story of a society that, when faced with overwhelming change, chose not to disintegrate but to reinvent itself entirely.