south and that it should have been more "bitter." Among the scientific community, the reception was lukewarm. Hurston's unique narrative devices created a work that the contemporary scientific establishment judged as childlike and ill-advised. Franz Boas, her academic mentor and the writer of the book's preface, and the father of American anthropology, wrote that "It is the great merit of Miss Hurston's work that she entered into the homely life of the southern Negro" with the "charm of a loveable personality and of a revealing style." Boas's introduction gave some credence to Mules and Men but at the cost of Hurston's authorial autonomy. Hurston was entirely dependent on Boas's introduction to give her any respectability among the intellectual milieu. References 1935 books African-American cultural history Ethnographic literature Florida folklore Works by Zora Neale Hurston