Superseding the author's well-known first book on Translation Theory In Search of a Theory of Translation (1980), this book makes a case for descriptive TS as a scholarly activity and as a branch of the discipline, having immediate consequences for issues of both a theoretical and applied nature. Methodological discussions are complemented by an assortment of case studies of various scopes and levels, with emphasis on the need to contextualize whatever one sets out to focus on. Part One deals with the position of descriptive studies within TS and justifies the author's choice to devote this book to both theory and practice at once. Part Two gives a rationale for descriptive studies in translation and serves as a framework for Part Three, which presents an assortment of case studies, tackling each issue within higher level contexts: texts and modes of behavior in texts and then in cultural constellations. Part Four asks the question: What is knowledge accumulated through descriptive studies performed within one and the same framework likely to yield? This is an excellent book for higher-level translation courses.