Like the career of Watson Smith, When is a Kiva? is a bit difficult to describe. Perhaps because this book works so well on so many different levels, it is hard to pinpoint exactly how it should be praised. At its heart is a selected sample of Watson Smith's archaeological writings, comprising a series of lucid essays on some of the knottiest problems of Puebloan prehistory. Beyond this, however, When is a Kiva? is Raymond Thompson's affectionate and well-crafted tribute to his long time friend and mentor and one of the great figures in Southwestern archaeology. As such, this work is a nested set of aesthetic triumphs.