Leslie White was one of the most important—and controversial—figures in American anthropology. This classic work, initially published in 1949, contains White’s definitive statement on what he termed 'culturology.' In his new prologue to this reprint of the second edition (originally published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1969), Robert Carneiro outlines the key events in White’s life and career, especially his championing of cultural evolutionism and cultural materialism.