Oscar Lewis was born in New York City in 1914 and grew up on a small farm in Upstate New York. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1940; he taught at Brooklyn College and Washington University, Illinois. He was the recipient of various distinguised fellowships and grants. From his first visit to Mexico in 1943, Mexican peasants and city dwellers had been among his major interests. His book Life in a Mexican Village: Tepoztlaacute;n Restudied initiated a whole new trend in independent restudies in aanthropology. In addition to The Children of Saacute;nchez his other studies of Mexican life include Five Families, Pedro Martiacute;nez, and A Death in the… Saacute;nchez Family. He is also the author of La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty-San Juan and New York (also available from Vintage Books), which recieved the National Book Award. A further study of Puerto Rican culture, Six Women, was published in early 1970. Professor Lewis also published articles in anthropological and other journals, many of which were collected in Anthropological Essays. He died in 1970.