Ward's Nest - Intro

(I have decided to read Nest in the Wind instead of finishing The Spirit Catches You because of the near-absence of the author as a character. This was too different from Peace Corps memoir to compare.)

(2) background economically written

(3)"I wish to evoke images, a sense of immediacy, and the feeling that you are there with me - that you are a participant and observer. I hint at the realities between the dots of the painting and make no effort to analyze each dot. This is not an official ethnography or history. It is only a true story about the doing of fieldwork and the doing of anthropology."

She wrote the above but did not stick to the game plan: she tried to make us feel like we where there but failed (this goes along with comments I've made before - the best exposition can not make me feel it, but a good story can), she very much did make an effort to analyze each dot (giving us pages of analysis, especially at the end), and because of the analysis the book became an anthropological work instead of a story (with a few pages of exceptions).

Moreover, this inaccurate intro is an example of what not to write: don't promise anything you can't deliver.

I want to add, though, that I enjoyed the book for the most part and would recommend emulating parts.