Paul Trawick’s excellent analysis of irrigation relations in a small area of the central Peruvian Andes provides valuable conclusions for irrigation systems throughout the world, as well as insightful findings for the culture history of the Andes from Inca times until 1990. This is a model of historical and anthropological research written with exceptional clarity.Trawick describes a great variety of irrigation practices in one relatively small region, based on 1986–90 fieldwork in the Cotahuasi Valley of Peru. He sorts out the climatological, meteorological, political, historical, social, and cultural factors that play into irrigation relationships and dynamics. He successfully identifies the significant factors and avoids simplistic conclusions. The author presents his complex argument in a clear manner and discusses his findings in an organized fashion. Rejecting simplistic and short-sighted explanations of water crises, Trawick argues for the social necessity of maintaining a moral order in irrigation. In this case, that means adapting long-tested pre-Hispanic practices, both social and technical, to the efficient functioning of Andean irrigation communities. Trawick includes well-designed maps, notes, and figures that abundantly support his findings, and he presents his field data very attractively.The author consistently distinguishes between the intentions and rationalizations of policies and the actual consequences of water practices in history. He then offers a clear assessment of necessary considerations in formulating irrigation policy today. His central argument—expressed in the comedy and tragedy of the book’s title—contrasts the selfishness and greed of individuals (tragedy) with social action for a mutually beneficial purpose (comedy) and concludes that the social and ethical bases for irrigation decisions are what matter most for the success of water policies.Trawick uses five major principles as a framework for analyzing irrigation systems: proportionality, uniformity, continuity, regularity, and transparency. These principles emerged from his Cotahuasi Valley study, but Trawick finds them apparent in other places in the world where irrigation systems do work fairly.This book will be of special interest to Andeanists, be they historians, ethno-historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, or geographers. Trawick’s research lends support to the argument that the Incas extended the vertical control strategy of the Huari Empire to open up new lands for cultivation in Cotahuasi. These lands increased tribute and extended the Inca Empire’s administrative control without depriving the local conquered populations of their sustenance. Today, climatic change is blamed for increasing water scarcity in the area. However, Trawick points to the relationship between the expansion of haciendas at the same time that the indigenous population recovered and concludes that lands were not abandoned because of drought but due to irrigation problems. His conclusions are broadly applicable. He argues that irrigation communities have been the heart of Inca civilization and the moral economy of the Andes, a concept with which I heartily agree and that he documents abundantly.The author provides an excellent discussion of how the indigenous community functions without romanticizing or exaggerating. The villagers work their own land to feed themselves; no one is above certain tasks, and no one subsists or enriches himself off the labor of others. Irrigation is the moral foundation of village life and forms a central part of Huaynacoteno ethnic identity. The close relationship between ethnicity and economic life reveals two kinds of people: those who operate on the basis of reciprocity and those who focus on making money. This distinction is perceived by both local ethnic groups, but it is not always understood by the national government or other outsiders.The issue of water equity is at the heart of the failure of the Water Law of 1969, a failure of the state and a failure of development organizations. Trawick stresses repeatedly that the problem is social and to some degree technical, not climatological. What is seen as water scarcity by some observers is the norm in the Andes, not the exception. Water supplies in the past allowed for a greater extent of cultivated land, and there is enough water today to irrigate this former extent. The problem lays in distribution. Trawick recommends that Peru develop both new institutions and new identities, and the place to start is with irrigation. This is an outstanding contribution to the field of Andean irrigation studies and understanding irrigation in general.