Book excerpt: Intercultural Variation in Family Research and Theory sets forth 23 critical reviews in a 2-volume set that document the development of family research and theory in various societies around the world. Focusing on modern research while drawing on the historical roots of theoretical and methodological approaches employed in the study of family, this collection not only increases your knowledge about the status of family research in various countries, but also inspires cross-national research among researchers and scholars. The societies being studied have been grouped by region: Volume I contains the set’s Introduction and contributions from the Far East, the Baltic region, Australia, and South Africa. Volume II covers the Middle East, Western Europe, Scandinavia, and also includes the Index. The materials in these two volumes are the result of the charge given to scholars of 23 societies to review the development of family theory and research in their homelands. Their obligation was to provide an analytic report telling a story from their perspective of reality. The book’s editors now present some of the commonality of experiences and trends of the researchers and interpret country differences and similarities from their writings. Intercultural Variation in Family Research and Theory holds numerous suggestions for your investigations into the family field. You’ll find that the set adds to the body of knowledge on comparative family analysis and raises concerns and issues for future research. The questions anddressed in this book include: how gender of the investigator influences choice of research topics how funding sources shape the research agenda what influence a researcher’s career trajectory has on research topics, methods, and procedures why psychological and sociological frameworks and methodologies are commonly used in family research how political policy influences and dictates theory development and research what to do about the multitude of new questions that inevitably arise from such intercultural research