Coming of Age: The Sexual Awakening of Margaret Mead

Blum (Bad Karma) gives a novelistic retelling of the major events and relationships preceding and including anthropologist Margaret Mead’s 1925 trip to Samoa, using letters to reconstruct scenes and dialogue among Mead’s family, friends, and three early loves: Luther Cressman, her first husband; Ruth Benedict, her mentor; and famous linguist Edward Sapir. While points of view alternate among these four leads, Mead is the central character, and she comes across as impetuous, determined, intense, high-strung, ambitious, and very vain. Period detail about travel, clothing, illness, and the budding fields of anthropology and psychology bring the story to life, making Mead’s notions of women’s independence stand out against the conventions of the time. After Mead’s passionate meeting with her future lover, Reo Fortune, the story fizzles to an uncertain end, leaving it unclear what these early experiences contributed to Mead’s later life and work. The most engaging character is the revered but aging Franz Boas, head of anthropology at Columbia, who gives Mead her topic of study. Blum’s vivid and personal reimagining is an entertaining addition to the constellation of work on this important figure, giving insight into the vulnerable girl’s heart behind the groundbreaking work. [em]Agent: Harvey Klinger, Harvey Klinger Agency. (July) [/em]