Applying principles and methods of cultural and historical anthropology to material gathered in the French Pyrenees, Jenkins (anthropology, U. of Cambridge) investigates the nature of property. He looks at how the long-term continuities of a particular way of life in the foothills is impacted by national and cosmopolitan forces, but also at what the local contributes to those interests, in particular, national identity. The vehicle for such influence he finds in local forms of property and its inheritance, which are legally documented back to the 12th century. He delivered earlier versions of the four core chapters at Oxford University in 2001 as the Evans-Pritchard lectures, and has added two more based on his subsequent research. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)