Coming of age in Samoa

About the book

"Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation" by Margaret Mead is an anthropological study published in 1928. Based on fieldwork with adolescent girls in American Samoa, Mead explores whether teenage turmoil stems from biology or culture. Her findings challenged Western assumptions about adolescence and sparked fierce debate in the nature versus nurture controversy. The book became anthropology's most widely read work, yet remains intensely contested, with critics questioning Mead's methods and conclusions about Samoan sexual norms.