Balinese texts, temples, theatre performances and rituals, in seven essays, are placed into specific political contexts in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the changing relations between state and society on the complex island of Bali.

Hildred Geertz, Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, has spent considerable time in Bali. Her published works include "The Javanese Family" and (with Clifford Geertz) "Kinship in Bali." She is currently completing a book on drawings made in the 1930s entitled "Representations of Bali. Pictures Made for Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson."