Book excerpt: Stories of Culture and Place makes use of one of anthropology's most enduring elements--storytelling--to introduce students to the excitement of the discipline. The authors invite students to think of anthropology as a series of stories that emerge from cultural encounters in particular times and places. References to classic and contemporary ethnographic examples--from Coming of Age in Samoa to Coming of Age in Second Life--allow students to grasp anthropology's sometimes problematic past, while still capturing the potential of the discipline. This new edition has been significantly reorganized and includes two new chapters--one on health and one on economic change--as well as fresh ethnographic examples. The result is a more streamlined introductory text that offers thorough coverage but is still manageable to teach.