The Routledge handbook of language and identity, edited by Siân Preece, collects the most recent sociolinguistic work on the subject of identity as it relates to a wide variety of different topics within language analysis and linguistics. The handbook comprises five parts: Part 1 offers theoretical perspectives on language and identity; Part 2 discusses categories and dimensions of identity; Part 3 covers challenges and issues in the analysis of language and identity; Part 4 offers examples of case studies of analyses; and Part 5 covers future directions for language and identity research. The handbook includes an impressive list of contributors, including many of the top scholars in the field of sociolinguistics, presenting their work in a manageable and accessible way.

In Part 1, theoretical perspectives on language and identity from a sociolinguistic viewpoint are introduced, with particularly notable contributions from Judith Baxter (considering identity from a poststructuralist perspective), Bethan Benwell & Elizabeth Stokoe (considering identity from ethnomethodological and conversation analytic perspectives), and Rob Drummond & Erik Schleef (considering a variationist perspective). The range of chapters—from macro-perspectives and the philosophical and historical background of identity to the specific discussions of, for example, the indexical field for ‘inter-vocalic t-glottalling’—cleverly tie together theory and practice in an extremely approachable way, showing the real value of sociolinguistic research that looks closely at details in language patterns and uses that information to build compelling arguments about how and why different identities emerge.

In Part 2, there is a useful overview of different categories that have been used to frame research into language and identity. ‘Language and gender identities’ by Lucy Jones and ‘Language, race, and identity’ by Tope Omoniyi do admirable jobs of bringing fresh and current perspectives on these topics. Moreover, topics that have yet to receive coverage in many places, including chapters on ‘Language and non-normative sexual identities’ by John Gray and ‘Language and religious identities’ by Ana Souza, feel like particularly important contributions. These chapters will be useful for postgraduate students as starting points for the range of topics covered, but also for veteran scholars interested in good overviews of the most recent work in adjacent areas of research.

Part 3 is described as a bridge between the theory of the first two parts, the specific case studies and investigations of identity in language in Part 4 and the ‘Future directions’ in Part 5. In this section, methodological issues of identity research in sociolinguistics are problematised as ‘Challenges, issues, and puzzles’. The issue of ethics is particularly well discussed in a chapter by Anna Kristina Hultgren, Elizabeth J. Erling, & Qumrul Hasan Chowdhury, looking at contexts like rural Bangladesh that do not necessarily fit the ethics procedures of Western, English-speaking universities. Angela Creese & Adrian Blackledge's chapter on linguistic ethnography is also a highlight here, including an interesting application of the notion of heteroglossia in linguistic ethnography to look at multilingualism.

Part 4 provides the most interesting application of the theories and methods of the first three parts, highlighting the work of leading scholars and newcomers. A diverse range of case studies show how the perspectives in the first three sections are worked out in the field. Louise Mullany & Melissa Yoong's chapter on Malaysian media outlets is particularly interesting, producing an engaging discussion of an online smear campaign that suggested a female Malay-Muslim politician had been photographed in a bikini. The analysis does an admirable job of showing how ‘online’ and ‘offline’ worlds are connected in meaningful ways. The chapter is especially interesting given the interest in ‘fake news’ since the handbook has been published. Frances Rock's research in police interviews also provides a good example of the ways in which research into language and identity can draw on a range of different data sources.

In the final section, the future of language and identity research is covered, considering how research should be adapted to changing contexts as they relate to, for example, the multimodal representation of self in technologically mediated spaces (by Myrrh Domingo), neoliberal language (by Christian W. Chun), and language learning and teaching (by Peter de Costa & Bonny Norton). The potential for developments in digital contexts is covered well by Ron Darvin, but also begs the question of why digital spaces are not given more coverage in other parts of the handbook. Issues of language and identity are also at the forefront of discussions about artificial intelligence and more engagement with the future of human/machine interaction; the effects this may have on the study of language and identity would be welcome. The tacit assumption that technology and our interaction with it will remain fundamentally the same needs to be further questioned. Digital mediation of life in the present state of affairs can be considered in any of the areas of research highlighted in the text.

With a deluge of handbooks by several publishers, it is difficult to comment on a particular handbook without discussing the genre as a whole and the necessity of yet another handbook for a niche market. While this issue may be worth considering for other volumes, with Preece's handbook the answer is almost certainly yes. To be successful, handbooks must have a clear and broad readership, a consistent and clear message, and not duplicate material found in other collections. In the case of this handbook, there is little doubt that it is a quality, needed, and novel text. For any scholar working in language and identity, this handbook offers a rich and diverse collection of different perspectives, with quality examples of research from world-leading researchers. The value of the handbook is in its development from theoretical principles to methodological frameworks to case studies for research, encouraging the reader to move back and forth between the chapters and consider the ways in which the case studies accord with or diverge from the ideas that have been presented before. There could have been more done to explicitly draw out these links within and between the different chapters, but Preece's introduction provides a clear roadmap for the collection as a whole, explaining the rationale. The book represents the diversity and complexity of a field of research at a moment in time and is likely to prove an incredibly useful tool for sociolinguists and, indeed, any researcher interested in language and identity more broadly.