The biography of a subject rather than a person, this book examines the who, what, when, and where of Language and Social Interaction research, primarily as studied within the discipline of communication. Ideas do not just arise from nowhere, and get accepted because they are seen to be intrinsically valuable. The book describes the people who had the ideas, where they were working when they had them, who they were working with, and how their students carried those ideas beyond the boundaries of a single campus.