author
Weston La Barre
1911–1996
A pioneering American anthropologist, he explored Native American religion, ethnobotany, and the psychology of culture with unusual range. He is especially remembered for influential studies of peyote, shamanism, and religious experience.
1 Audiobook
The peyote cult
by Weston La Barre
About the author
Born in Pennsylvania in 1911, Weston La Barre studied at Princeton and later worked through the Yale Institute of Human Relations. Early in his career he carried out fieldwork in Oklahoma and Bolivia, building the firsthand research base that would shape much of his writing.
La Barre became best known for work that brought anthropology into conversation with psychology and psychoanalysis. His books examined Native American religion, altered states, myth, and the cultural meaning of belief, with The Peyote Cult among his most noted works. He spent much of his teaching career at Duke University, where he served as a professor of anthropology from 1946 to 1977.
He died in 1996, leaving behind a body of work that remains distinctive for its ambition and breadth. Readers who come to him today often find a scholar willing to ask large questions about religion, symbols, healing, and the hidden motives of human behavior.