In this introduction to understanding, researching and doing case studies in the social sciences, Hamel outlines several differing traditions of case study research including the Chicago School of Sociology, the anthropological case studies of Malinowski, and the French La Play school tradition. He shows how each developed, changed and has been practiced over time. Suggestions for the practice of case studies are made for the novice reader and an additional feature is the extensive bibliography on case study methods in social science to allow for further exploration of the topic.