"The most widely read, the best known, and arguably the most controversial anthropologist is probably Margaret Mead, an American who, at the age of 23, went to study adolescence in the South Sea Islands."
"Although her field work has been criticized and she stands accused of creating rather than developing conclusions, she was nevertheless one of the foremost fieldworkers of her day. In the United States, Bali, and New Guinea, she examined child development, sex, and temperament to see what role society plays in making people what they are. Adolescence was a time of emotional stress and personal conflict in America and Europe; Mead claimed that in Samoa, adolescence was in many ways the most enjoyable and happy time of life. She emphasized that humans arrange their social worlds in many different ways, and that qualitative judgments cannot be made between them." -- Hesburgh Library
