"Franz Boas: The Early Years, 1858-1906, is a personal and intellectual biography of one of the most influential anthropologists of the twentieth century, from his childhood in Germany to his resignation from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Douglas Cole's thorough account of Boas's early life and career is unprecedented in drawing extensively from the vast collection of Boas's personal and professional papers at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. The Boas family's lifelong habit of writing frequent, frank, and informative letters allows a rich and intimate look at Boas's childhood, family, schooling, and marriage, as well as his early expeditions among the Central Eskimo and Northwest Coast Indians and his struggle to establish a position for himself in American anthropology."--BOOK JACKET.