Cows in the field · Episode

I have never read a novel with a higher punchline-to-page ratio than Catch-22. It’s overstuffed with Borscht Belt schtick, banter with the cadence of a military “Who’s on First?” and physical comedy w...

We are all potential anthropologists of our own professional tribes: embedded for years or decades, studying the unwritten rules, observing the curious customs of the tribesfolk. Does anyone ever go native to the point that they cannot step back and sense the peculiarity of their tribe’s distinctive praxis—as Horace Miner memorably did in “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema,” which is not just about American relationships with bodily appearance, but a commentary on anthropological method.

A game that is somewhat impenetrable to outsiders can, on occasion, reveal its joys to all.