The social structure of the Apinaye, a Central Brazilian Indian tribe, has puzzled anthropologists for forty years. Now, in this long awaited book, previously unavailable in English, Roberto Da Matta comprehensively describes Apinaye social life and the dualistic conceptual structure that underlies it. Special attention is given to the organization of daily and ceremonial life, the ideological aspects of kinship, the political system, and the confrontation between the Apinaye and the national Brazilian society.

Da Matta then enlarges his account of the Apinaye to suggest a general interpretation of Indian culture in Central Brazil. A Divided World is a major event in Brazilian ethnography and an important contribution to our general understanding of social structure.

The New Deal introduced sweeping social, political, and cultural change across the United States, which Hollywood embraced enthusiastically. Then, when the heady idealism of the 1930s was replaced by the paranoia of the postwar years, Hollywood became an easy target for the anticommunists. A Divided World examines some of the important programs of the New Deal and the subsequent response of the film community—especially in relation to social welfare, women’s rights, and international affairs. The book also provides an analysis of the major works of three European directors—Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, and Fritz Lang—compared and contrasted with the products of mainstream Hollywood. This is a new interpretation of an influential period in American film history and it is sure to generate further debate and scholarship.

Winner of the Zócalo Book Prize
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

“Combines powerful moral arguments with superb storytelling.”
—New Statesman

What moral values do we hold in common? As globalization draws us together economically, are the things we value converging or diverging? These twin questions led Michael Ignatieff to embark on a three-year, eight-nation journey in search of an answer. What we share, he found, are what he calls “ordinary virtues”: tolerance, forgiveness, trust, and resilience. When conflicts break out, these virtues are easily exploited by the politics of fear and exclusion, reserved for one’s own group but denied to others. Yet these ordinary virtues are the key to healing and reconciliation on both a local and global scale.

“Makes for illuminating reading.”
—Simon Winchester, New York Review of Books

“Engaging, articulate and richly descriptive… Ignatieff’s deft histories, vivid sketches and fascinating interviews are the soul of this important book.”
—Times Literary Supplement

“Deserves praise for wrestling with the devolution of our moral worlds over recent decades.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books