Using historical materials and detailed ethnographic reporting, Gelles (anthropology, U. of California) shows that water, ethnicity, and power in Cabanaconde and elsewhere in the Andes must be understood against the backdrop of the region's colonial past and contemporary nation-building in Peru. Sifting through the layers of meaning in the clash between the local ritualized model of irrigation and the secular monetary models, he examines the fundamentally different historical processes and competing cultural rationales concerning resources, power, efficiency, equity, and ethnic identity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)