Points of view

Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins tackles the explosive question of whether Western scholars can study non-western societies without falling into the trap of an imperialist past. In How “Natives” Think – About Captain Cook For Example (University of Chicago Press, £19.95, ISBN 0226 733 68 8). Sahlins suggests that, instead of assuming that everyone non-European is and was intrinsically the “same”, we try to understand real differences in views.