The study explores the migrant labor system as it operates in the northeastern United States. It is concerned with how the system affects life in migrant labor crews, the details of daily routine, and the problems and adjustments made by the people to the circumstances in which they live. The 3 themes of the book are: (1) the disorganized and unpredictable character of migrant life; (2) the migrant's adaptation in day-to-day life to the disorganized character of his existence; and (3) the extent to which the migrant social system traps its participants. This book is a compilation of excerpts from field diaries written in the summers of 1966-68 by 16 students from Cornell University and Tuskegee Institute. These students, during summer seasons, became migrants, living individually in labor camps and working in the fields with a crew. Part 1, The Setting, includes: Going North on the Seasons; Migrant Labor Camps; The Crew Leader and His Control; and Work. Chaos as Order, the second section, contains: Personal Behavior; Inter-personal Relations; Leisure Time; and It Cut My Spirit and I Can't Pick a Thing. Section 3, Persistence or Change, covers: The Migrant and the Outside World; The Search for Solutions, and The Children. The Appendix explains Outsiders in the System. (KM)