Benjamin L. Read is a professor of Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research has focused on local politics in China and Taiwan, and he also writes about issues and techniques in field research. He is author of Roots of the State: Neighborhood Organization and Social Networks in Beijing and Taipei (Stanford, 2012), coauthor of Field Research in Political Science: Practices and Principles (Cambridge, 2015), and co-editor of Local Organizations and Urban Governance in East and Southeast Asia: Straddling State and Society (Routledge, 2009). His work has appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the China Journal, the China Quarterly, and the Washington Quarterly, as well as several edited books.
