This is an outstanding introduction to the field of interpersonal communication. The text underscores the ways in which communicative practices are shaped by culture, with selections that focus on how culture infuses interactions and the negotiation of relationships within those interactions. Besides the well-chosen readings, the editors' introductory notes at the beginning of each chapter are a major highlight, and their placement is more effective than nestled in a section's end where they might be overlooked. These introductions supply necessary background and provide discussion questions and suggestions for mini-ethnographic projects. Complete with the appendices, which offer five project ideas and a guide to reading complex texts, this volume is an invaluable resource for both newly initiated and well-seasoned scholars of interpersonal communication.

Part I, “Ethnographer's toolkit,” provides the essentials of doing ethnography. The section begins with the ethnography of the “Nacirema” (Horace Miner), a commentary on the exoticization of “other” cultures. The point that culture does not belong only to others carries into the following chapter, in which Michael Agar illustrates the indivisibility of language and culture. Five principles (Richard Bauman) introduce the idea that every form of communication serves a social function. The next few chapters focus on what is involved in ethnographic work, beginning with the importance of “thick descriptions” (Clifford Geertz) and the “social business” achieved in interaction (Goodman). Monaghan's chapter provides a practical guide to some basics of ethnographic research, and introduces Dell Hymes' SPEAKING model. More essentials in the toolkit are provided in the following three chapters: a performance-based approach to communication (Bauman; Dwight Conquergood) and the centrality of narratives (Elinor Ochs). Four extended ethnographies follow, on greetings in the desert (Ibrahim Ag Youssouf, Allen D. Grimshaw, & Charles S. Bird), the “plain speech” of Quakers (Bauman), the use of silence among the Apache (Keith Basso), and the meaning of “communication” among Americans (Tamar Katriel & Gerry Philipsen). Part I concludes with two chapters that deal with the issue of transcription. Harriet Joseph Ottenheimer describes her difficulties in choosing how to represent the speech of a blues singer, discussing use of nonstandard spelling and dialect representation. Michael Moerman stresses the importance of transcribing speech in ethnographic work and argues for the integration of ethnography and conversation analysis. For readers without background on the seeming incompatibility of these two approaches, however, Moerman's larger point may be somewhat difficult to uncover.

Part II, “Ethnography of talk,” addresses the interconnectedness of linguistic form and function, and rules for different types of communication. The section is led by Robin Tolmach Lakoff, who explains the inextricable link between the form and function of language. James Wilce's chapter further exemplifies this connection with a fascinating case study of the manipulation of verb forms in Bangla. Wilce uses the case to illustrate the “grammar of politics,” drawing his explanation from work on semiotics and consciousness. Monaghan's chapter details Hymes' SPEAKING model and provides some basic transcription conventions. This chapter seems slightly out of place here, but in combination with Monaghan's contribution in Part I, it would have nicely tied together the chapters on transcription. Deborah Tannen's chapter then introduces the concept of conversational style, which is cited as the root of “miscommunication” between men and women in the two chapters that follow (Daniel N. Maltz & Ruth A. Borker; Tannen). Part II concludes with two selections on “swearing”: the grammar of swear words (Lars Andersson & Peter Trudgill) and their use and constraints among college students (Thomas E. Murray). The content of these two contributions is likely to spark students' interest in the possibilities of doing ethnographic work themselves; however, the admission by Murray of having used a concealed tape recorder to collect some spectacularly rich data was shocking. Given that a primary goal of the volume is to train students to become ethnographers themselves, a note about the unacceptability of surreptitious recording would have been prudent.

Part III, “Communication and social groups,” deals with how communicative practices work to create solidarity and display group membership. The selections in Part III, on the whole, flow seamlessly one into the next and hold together particularly well as a unit. The first two chapters provide definitions of speech communities (R. A. Hudson) and of social groups, as contrasted with gatherings (Erving Goffman). The next two works focus on adolescents' strategies for displaying affiliation. Penelope Eckert details numerous ways high school students display membership as “jocks” or “burnouts,” and importantly, how the groups are defined largely in opposition to each other. Focusing more specifically on language, Mary Bucholtz discusses the use of slang to mark affiliations and exhibit knowledge of various subcultures in the school, which are often formed along racial lines. Rachel Simmons then tackles the issue of not belonging, and ways in which girls can be ostracized for displaying “non-feminine” behaviors, such as flirting and bragging. While for the most part the focus is nonlinguistic, Simmons does discuss “code words” (e.g., flirt, all that) used to define the boundaries of acceptable behavior among girls. Koenraad Kuiper returns to the work of belonging, with a report of contrasting techniques for solidarity building among two all-male sports teams. Kuiper frames the discussion in terms of face work, claiming that face-threatening strategies as well as face-saving strategies can be used to build solidarity within a group. Continuing with the topic of face, Robert Garot discusses face-saving strategies adopted by some inner-city teens to avoid fights. The chapter challenges Anderson's (Reference Anderson1999) claims that the “code of the street” is universal and inviolable if one wants to be respected. More explicit discussion of how the strategies relate to face work might have helped to solidify the concept of face for readers new to the field. Finally, the section is rounded off by two chapters on speech play. John Holmes McDowell introduces the concept and provides a brief description of several types, though he offers very few examples. Fortunately, an extended example is provided by Geneva Smitherman, who describes the game of “the dozens” in African American oral tradition. In her signature writing style that moves strategically and effectively between dialects, Smitherman details the roots and purpose of the practice, along with rules for playing and criteria for success.

The final section, “Interpersonal communication in institutional settings,” tackles the significant role that power plays in interactions, and the ways that differential power relationships can affect and distort an exchange. Part IV begins with two case studies of various strategies available to individuals in creating a powerful position for themselves. Scott Fabius Kiesling contrasts the ways in which four fraternity brothers draw on different kinds of power to achieve particular interactional goals within the confines of the organization. Gerry Philipsen analyzes a speech given by Mayor Daley of Chicago, and shows that the “truth” of his words is visible only with a deep understanding of the culture from which the mayor is coming. The article is a superb illustration of the necessity of pairing discourse analytic techniques with solid cultural knowledge. The next two authors move to the classroom. Elizabeth Mertz reports on the socialization of law students who must learn to use a new way of speaking to operate successfully in the legal world, while Susan U. Phillips details the difficulties Native American children face in classrooms where they do not share rules of interaction that operate within the school. An excerpt from “Footing” in Goffman's Forms of Talk (Reference Goffman1981) introduces a framework for the following chapter, a case study of tensions surrounding changing gender roles among Algerian immigrants in Paris. Goodman supplies a clear example of Goffman's participant roles, in which the animator of a speech differed from its principal and author. Given that it is such a clear example of the separability of these roles, a more extensive discussion of voice and footing might have proven beneficial, to connect the linguistic matter more tightly to the sociohistorical issues so richly described. The volume concludes with four chapters on signing, which are most welcome given that the topic is often absent or receives minimal coverage in introductory texts. The first two chapters (Monaghan; Barbara LeMaster & Monaghan) in this string provide an excellent introduction of the basics of signed languages. Neither chapter, however, offers an explanation of the distinction between “deaf” (unable to hear) and “Deaf” (actively belonging to Deaf culture), despite the fact that the contrast “deaf/Deaf” appears several times throughout the subsection. Monaghan then describes a case study of identities in conflict. Two splits in a church were prompted by attempts to satisfy the needs of both facets of the congregation members' identities as both Deaf and Christian. Finally, Roger W. Shuy tells of a Deaf man manipulated by a car salesman, pushed into writing a check for a car he had no intention of buying. The salesman's unscrupulous behavior was documented in written notes, which allowed the exchange to take place between the parties.

Overall, this volume is a superb introduction to interpersonal communication, and it does an excellent job of bringing students to the understanding that at every level, communicative practices are steeped in and mediated by culture. This book will surely find its way onto many syllabi as teachers of both interpersonal and intercultural communication strive to illuminate ways in which communicative practices are organized across peoples and settings, and as they work to train a new generation of ethnographers.