This new anthology offers ethnographic examples from exotic settings of classical anthropology as well as the more familiar settings of the agrarian Midwest, the Mexican border, the Rust Belt, and the frontiers of the recent economic meltdown. The authors compiled this collection of readings from classics like Bronislaw Malinowski, Eric R. Wolf, Ward Goodenough, Marvin Harris, and Marshall Sahlins with new writings by contemporaries such as Alan Sandstrom, Lisa Gezon, Josiah Heyman, and Dimitra Doukas to provide a clear and riveting introduction to the anthropology of contemporary societies. These carefully selected articles illustrate how a variety of anthropologists approach topics such as religion, family, commerce, history, power, and wealth. An introduction to each essay helps students relate their own lives to the ethnographies and helps instructors open students' minds to replacing prejudice with understanding, ethnocentrism with cultural relativism, and indifference with enthusiasm.