Book excerpt: This volume brings together many of the most interesting anthropologists writing on the current situation in South Africa. Initially conceived as a tribute to the work of Philip Mayer, the author of Townsmen and Tribesmen, the volume continues a tradition of digging into the interstices of South African society at the folk, tribal, and national levels. Each chapter examines the myriad ways in which tradition is a critical factor for those who must cope with the trauma of social and economic transition. This theme, central to the work of Philip and Iona Mayer, allows the reader to probe the core issues of South Africa and provide a theoretical structure for the study of other societies in similar states of transition to modernity.