To Cherish the Life of the World: The Selected Letters of Margaret Mead

I find I can't get up much enthusiasm for rules," cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote in 1933, in a letter addressed to her female lover, Ruth Benedict, about the tension between her then husband, Reo Fortune, and future husband, Gregory Bateson. A free but highly disciplined spirit dedicated to discovering new cultures and practicing the tenets of open love, Mead was also a prolific writer, whose collected letters have been combined into one volume by Caffrey and Francis, respectively an associate professor at the University of Memphis and curator of a Mead exhibit at the Library of Congress. Assembled with the aid of Mary Catherine Bateson, Mead's only daughter, the cultural anthropologist's vivid dispatches have been categorized by recipient. Addressees include her Philadelphia family, all three of her husbands and several lovers, both male and female, on topics ranging from changing colleges to quelling rumors about her numerous affairs. While Mead's personal relationships tend to be the focus, these connections (particularly with her second and third husbands) were closely intertwined with her professional life. But there is little doubt as to Mead's true obsession: as the writer herself noted to Benedict in 1928, "I think the work is so much more important than any personal issue." Photos. (July)