I like many things about this book, but for the teacher and the student the most critical issue is one of utility. If one wants a compact single volume that takes the student from conceptualization, through research plan and field practice, to writing for different audiences, this book is an excellent tool for the job. - Oriol Pi-Sunyer, University of Massachusetts
By focusing on problems and methods of fieldwork among disadvantaged groups, Fife's book becomes an exceptionally useful guide for the production of ethnographies that speak to key social issues. The continued vitality of anthropology depends upon recovering its capacity to surprise us, both descriptively and analytically. You have before you a guide to field research on the production of history, power, and inequality that will take you a long way toward that goal. - Gerald Sider, City University of New York