This collection, the first of its kind in Australia, illustrates the richness of data and analysis born of the anthropological study of contemporary white Australian society.

The studies presented here deal with diverse settings and events, ranging from a community's responses to a bushfire in rural NSW to the messages encoded in a male strip show in Adelaide. Work and leisure, family life and institutional relationships, natural disaster and culturally manipulated violence, the particular experiences of the homeless, the elderly, immigrants - all form a part of this collection.

Specifically and recurrently, the power of gender and class within Australian life is underlined.

This book was inspired by the need to demonstrate the especial skills and insights of anthropology when brought to bear on familiar 'everyday' data. It will be of interest to anyone curious about the colour and diversity of Australian life.

Dr Lenore Manderson teaches anthropology and sociology at the University of NSW. She is the author of a number of works including Overpopulation in Java: Problems and Reactions and Women, Politics and Change, and is the editor of Women's Work and Women's Roles.