Philippe Descola holds the chair of anthropology and heads the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale at the College de France. He also teaches at the Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales. Among his previous books to appear in English are In the Society of Nature and The Spears of Twilight. Janet Lloyd has translated more than seventy books from the French by authors such as Jean-Pierre Vernant, Marcel Detienne, and Philippe Descola.
"""Few books have the merit to counter the established way of thinking by reformulating great questions on a new basis.... It is nevertheless what Philippe Descola's book achieves.... An important book which will be received passionately."" (Le Monde)"""