This work should be read as an update on Morton Fried's "The Notion of the Tribe." The authors do not give Fried enough credit but well read anthropologists will recognize that the key points stem from Fried. Read with caution as the two editors have never done long-term fieldwork among indigenous peoples.

Ferguson has a great analytical mind, and a concise writing style. To dispel a myth, Ferguson does anthropological field research regularly.