cover image Families of the World

Families of the World

Helene Tremblay. Farrar Straus Giroux, $35 (328pp) ISBN 978-0-374-15216-1

This collection of photo-essays comparing living conditions as they affect family life in North and South America is the first volume of a projected series. Canadian ethnologist Tremblay selects one or more families from each of the countriesa total of 46whom she feels represents national characteristics of each nation, having spent on average three days sharing their everyday life. Excellent photos and maps illustrate the author's detailed chronology of their daily routines and attest to the different modes of existence ranging from Amazonian jungle Indians to urban apartment dwellers. While many South and Central Americans inhabit squalid shanty towns or live in isolated rural poverty, conditions of middle-class Venezuelans, Uruguayans and Mexicans compare favorably with their like in the U.S. and Canada. Although her choices may seem arbitrary, the author notes that each family was selected on the basis of national statistical profiles that include demography, economy, religion, etc., and chart predominant life styles. (Nov.)