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relevant to India and to other multinational states which have derived their historical cohesion through the development of cross- cutting loyalties and identifications. Here, it is unfortunate that Brass did not devote more discussion to the more general problem of the emergence of self-conscious ethnic groups and nationalities in a number of modern nations. Although Brass argues con- vincingly that multinational states can main- tain an effective cohesion, he says nothing about why the old system of cross-cutting linguistic, religious, and other ethnic loyalties is breaking down. Both the first and second propositions seem to apply speci- fically to the special case where ethnic groups are created or resurrected within a state based upon cross-cutting identifica- tions. There are many cases where the various ethnic criteria are congruent and where nationalist elites need engage in no special efforts to make them so.

The third proposition appears to be unex- ceptional. The importance of politics cannot be denied. On the other hand, Brass’s data consist essentially of historical materials that are largely concerned with the political elites of the movements he describes. A student of environmental and social environmental in- fluences could be expected to attribute centrality to ecological factors and to regard the emergence of political elites as automatic and inevitable once the soil was ripe. Evidently the study of nationality formation requires some systems theory or at least some Tylorian holism. As it is, we are left with isolated propositions, each easily dis- proved by the cry of “not so in my village.”

The above comments should not obscure the fact that this is a quite sufficiently monumental work. Three complicated cases are presented in the best tradition of his- torical scholarship and their implications are related to existing theoretical propositions with care and thoughtfulness. South Asia specialists and others concerned with ethnic groups, social movements, or modernization will find this to be a useful source of data and inspiration.

The Bikinians: A Study in Forced Migration. Robert C. Kiste. Kiste-Ogan Social Change Series in Anthropology. Menlo Park, Cali- fornia: Cummings, 1974. 212 pp., maps, plates, tables, bibliography, index. $3.50 (paper 1.

Mac Marshall University of Iowa

Those of us working in Pacific studies long have wished for an accurate, clearly- written, well-illustrated, inexpensive case study of a contemporary Micronesian soci- ety that we might assign to our classes. At last we have it. The Bihinians is a significant contribution, not only as an ethnography, but also in several additional ways.

First, it deals with the variety of social changes that have engulfed a small, non- industrialized, comparatively isolated soci- ety. These changes take on a special clarity and poignancy as Kiste relates the series of physical relocations and social dislocations that have beset the Bikinians since they were removed from their island home in 1946 to meet the demands of the United States for a “safe” nuclear weapons testing site. The special attention devoted to the specific problems of community relocation in a new environment is a second major contribution of the study. A third meaningful contribu- tion of The Bikinians is to the growing anthropological literature on community restudies. The historical perspective on events surrounding the Bikinians’ diaspora is enriched significantly because Kiste was able to draw upon earlier anthropological work by Leonard Mason and Jack Tobin.

Most books presently available on Micro- nesian societies place their emphasis on traditional culture and give scant attention to contemporary conditions in the islands. In the years since the end of World War 11, major irreversible changes in interpersonal, interisland, and international relations have continued to sweep over Micronesia. Kiste records many such changes as they have presented themselves to the Bikinians, and he discusses in detail how this one com- munity has coped with them.

Finally, I think i t worth noting that Kiste has accomplished one other difficult task with distinction: he has clearly separated his objective account of the Bikinians’ atomic exile and how they have coped with it from his subjective feelings about and defense of the Bikinians’ cause. The tension between objectivity and advocacy is forever present in anthropological research and there is always a risk that one demand will be slighted in favor of the other. The Bikinians provides a balanced model of how each of us might respond to this dilemma, and as such it will be useful for discussing complicated ethical problems with introductory students.

Down Amon the Wild Men: The Narrative Journal of &teen Years Pursuing the Old Stone Age Aborigines of Australia’s Western