Anthropology today seems to shy away from the big, comparative questions that ordinary people in many societies find compelling. 'This fascinating volume addresses large existential questions through the specifics of real people in real places. We hear an extraordinary diversity of voices, from Scottish adoptees on the anxieties of parentage, to Chinese farmers on anxieties about the future, to the president of Madagascar on the anxieties of power. Without embracing any simplistic universalism, Questions of Anthropology reminds us that all of us on this rapidly shrinking globe do indeed share a common humanity.' Sherry B. Ortner, University of California, Los Angeles