Nine ethnographers address such topics as the politically sexualized transformation of identities of women political prisoners in Northern Ireland, the changing character of political activism across generations in a Guatemala Mayan family, and cultural forms and struggles in New York.

History in person: an introduction by Dorothy Holland & Jean Lave - Engendering violence: strip searching of women in Northern Ireland by Begona Aretxaga - Indigenous activism across generations: an intimate social history of antiracism organizing in Guatemala by Kay B. Warren - From women's suffering to women's politics: re-imagining women after Nepal's 1990 pro-democracy movement by Dorothy Holland & Debra Skinner - Placing the politics of black class formation by Steven Gregory - Why take the piss? by Pail Willis - The identity path of Eduardo Mori by Daniel T. Linger - Class & identity: the jujitsu of domination & resistence in Oaxacalifornia by Michael Kearney - Getting to be British by Jean Lave - Figures in the future: dystopia & subjectivity in the social imagination of the future by Liisa Malkki

History in Person deals with the, by now classical, anthropological questions of history, identity and power, in complex locations and challenging ways. Along the way, the contributors raise highly relevant issues concerning the body (see especially Aretxaga on strip-searching in Northern Ireland prisons), place gender and anthropology itself. The editors have skilfully brought together a number of vivid and well-written articles, some of which are truly outstanding, to shape what is definitely and important book.' Matei Candea in Cambridge Anthropology