This edited collection is not only a timely and valuable contribution to the growing literature that deals with the nexus of language, culture, and identity but also a fascinating example of the growth and evolution of contemporary approaches to research. As Nunan and Choi note in their initial chapter, the book emerged from a discussion about what constitutes legitimate research and, more specifically, the role of personal identity in academic research. This is becoming an immensely important question as researchers in many fields move away from traditional, positivistic conceptions of research to more open, qualitative, and narrative conceptions. The volume assembled provides a number of outstanding examples of how such narrative approaches can provide us with deep insights into the processes and meanings of issues of language, culture, and identity; these insights, indeed, are simply not attainable using more traditional research approaches.

Each of the 28 authors who contributed chapters to this volume—a group that includes a number of major scholars in the field (i.e., Willis, Lin, Luke, and Pennycook, among others)—has written a chapter that includes a brief history of his or her own personal language-learning experience; critical incidents in his or her language learning or language use that highlight an aspect of language, culture, and identity; and finally, a commentary on his or her narrative. The resulting essays are not merely powerful (although many are quite compelling) but also provide a wide range of windows into the complex process and identities that these individuals—and indeed all bi- and multilinguals—construct, each of them in their own way. This book, in short, is a valuable addition to the literature, and we owe Nunan and Choi a debt of gratitude for their work in producing it.