Marshall Sahlins

Marshall Sahlins was an American anthropologist widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the social sciences during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. A professor at the University of Chicago for decades, his work transformed the study of culture, economics, and history in anthropology. The New Science of the Enchanted Universe is one of his final works, presenting a bold argument about the nature of power and belief in human societies. The book explores how concepts of divinity, spirits, and cosmic order have shaped political and social structures across cultures, challenging Western assumptions about the separation of the sacred and the secular. It was praised for its intellectual ambition and its synthesis of decades of anthropological thought. Sahlins is also known for his influential books Stone Age Economics, Islands of History, and Culture and Practical Reason, each of which reshaped debates within the discipline. He was a public intellectual as well as a scholar, engaging with questions of war, imperialism, and academic freedom. The New Science of the Enchanted Universe is available as an audiobook alongside the print edition, offering listeners an accessible way to engage with one of the great minds of modern anthropology. Sahlins's legacy continues to influence scholars and thinkers around the world.