Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), Handbook of language and ethnic identity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xii, 468. Hb £50.00.

This book's manifest aim is “to bring to the non-specialized reader a substantial selection that reflects the … regional and disciplinary variations in views toward and experiences with ethnicity” (3). To be more precise, the book is about issues of ethnicity and language, as the title correctly suggests. It will certainly be of interest to nonspecialists and less advanced students, and useful as a resource for teaching and seminar work. I will comment on it on the basis of this declared intention, globally – that is, I will not go into the details of individual contributions.