Lévi-Strauss was an anthropologist whose theory of structuralism, which looks for the hidden patterns underlying myths, kinship, and culture, transformed the social sciences.

His books include Tristes Tropiques (1955), a memoir of his fieldwork in Brazil, and The Savage Mind (1962).

• During World War II, he escaped Vichy France for New York. He was elected to the Académie française in 1973.