This short alternative text is designed in structure, content, format, and style to support classes that do not wish to use conventional texts, but, instead, wish to expose students directly to the cultural detail and personal experiences that lie in the anthropological record itself. In that pursuit, this text provides a succinct framework that will help students to recognize the general patterns in specific case material, to distinguish the predictable from the unpredictable, and to extend their anthropological understanding to contemporary issues.