Book excerpt: This reprint of a study by Dr. Audrey Richards (1899-1984) describes the living conditions of the Bemba of North-Eastern Rhodesia, with special reference to the effects of migrant labour on the social and economic life of a mainly agricultural society. Although primarily concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of food, and with conditions of labour and standards of living, the book gives a vivid picture of the social structure of the Bemba - their political organisation and the functions of the chief, systems of land-tenure, kinship groupings, and the whole complex of economic, social, and magico-religious factors which arise in any community. The book has been widely recognised as an authoritative study particularly among economists and anthropologists.