Life in twenty-first century Tonga is rife with uncertainties. Though the postcolonial island kingdom may give the appearance of stability and order, there is a malaise that pervades everyday life, a disquiet rooted in the feeling that the twin forces of "progress" and "development"--and the seemingly inevitable wealth distribution that follows from them--have bypassed the society. Niko Besnier's illuminating ethnography analyzes the ways...