"Throop is remarkably knowledgeable about Yap, strikingly fluent in and reflective on and about the local language, and empathically and acutely engaged in understanding the lives-and pain-of those with whom he works. This will be a real classic of Pacific ethnography, a very grounded and subtle contribution to the burgeoning literature on pain and suffering, and a very important work in person-centered ethnography deeply embedded in rich cultural analysis."--Don Brenneis, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz