Paul McLean is Associate Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University

Today, interest in networks is growing by leaps and bounds, in both scientific discourse and popular culture. Networks are thought to be everywhere  from the architecture of our brains to global transportation systems. And networks are especially ubiquitous in the social world: they provide us with social support, account for the emergence of new trends and markets, and foster social protest, among other functions. Besides, who among us is not familiar with Facebook, Twitter, or, for that matter, World of Warcraft, among the myriad emerging forms of network-based virtual social interaction?

It is common to think of networks simply in structural terms  the architecture of connections among objects, or the circuitry of a system. But social networks in particular are thoroughly interwoven with cultural things, in the form of tastes, norms, cultural products, styles of communication, and much more. What exactly flows through the circuitry of social networks? How are peopleÂs identities and cultural practices shaped by network structures? And, conversely, how do peopleÂs identities, their beliefs about the social world, and the kinds of messages they send affect the network structures they create? This book is designed to help readers think about how and when culture and social networks systematically penetrate one another, helping to shape each other in significant ways.

It doesn't get better than this: an accessible treatment of an exciting but often abstruse topic by a leading figure in the field. Further, it organizes a wide range of materials to make a strong and compelling case. A wonderful contribution.

John Levi Martin, University of Chicago

This is a path-breaking book that brilliantly describes one of the most exciting intellectual developments in the contemporary human sciences the melding of network science with the study of culture. McLean tackles this complex topic with clarity and precision, providing both a comprehensive review of the field and a coherent theoretical synthesis.

John Mohr, University of California, Santa Barbara