This book provides a definitive overview of hunter-gatherer historiography, from the earliest anthropological writings through to the present day. What can early visions of the hunter-gatherer tell us about the societies that generated them? How do diverse national traditions, such as American, Russian and Japanese, manifest themselves in hunter-gatherer research? How does current thinking on the subject reflect trends within the social sciences? Answering these questions and many more, this book provides a much-needed assessment of the history of thought on one of science's most intriguing subjects.