Aronowitz does not dwell or lose his purpose in a reminiscent literary journey that starts with the death of the Left in U.S. politics. He clearly states his path in the introduction:

[The Left] persists in repeating to itself the fiction that there was nothing wrong with left political ideology and program; it was simply defeated by the superior forces of Capital. On the conventional account, the right controlled the media and other means of communications, captured the legislative branch and neutralized the executive branch of the federal government. Transnational corporations simply decided to avoid the constraints of national and local politics, which tended to expect a measure of social justice.
In this book, I contend the reverse. The defeat itself requires explanation, not only in terms of what Capital does, but in relation to the specific history of the various components of the political Opposition. (p. 3)

In tracing the path of radical action, Aronowitz is honest and analytical about both his own actions as a radical organizer beginning in the 1960s and the actions of others. This volume is packed tight with a summary of past radical activities in the United States, an analysis of their connections and interrelationships, and their consequences in both the public sphere and the inner sphere of the radical activists. In the first three chapters of the book, "When the Left was New," "The New Left," and "The Situation of the Left in the United States," Aronowitz offers a concise historical context for U.S. radicalism.

Beginning with chapter four, "Against the Liberal State: ACT-UP and the Emergence of Post-Modern Politics," I sensed a shift in tone. Aronowitz weaves an exuberance into his text as he describes and analyzes the actions of ACT-UP in response to New York City's mayor Rudolph Giuliani's 1993 efforts to close some homeless shelters and eliminate the Department of AIDS Services. Growing out of grassroots efforts in New York's gay community for the rights of people with AIDS when the disease was still represented as the "gay plague," ACT-UP has become a prominent political force. Aronowitz clearly describes the political climate during ACT-UP's ascension while avoiding the trap of overloading the reader with "asides" and superfluous information. He then describes and analyzes ACT-UP's actions within a political framework that takes into account the relationships among the various political groups in New York City.

Aronowitz uses ACT-UP's opposition to Mayor Giuliani's cutbacks as an example of the rebirth of radicalism in American politics. He points out the victories and pitfalls that radical organizations have faced and would still likely face in taking action. In a 1997 speech given at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, MIT professor Noam Chomsky made the point that social justice must come from the people who are suffering the consequences of political decisions imposed on them, and that they must move beyond the feeling of helplessness. As Chomsky stated, "Things don't have to be this way. We are not helpless. We can change the course of events if we organize and take action." Aronowitz moves beyond Chomsky's call for people to organize; he establishes a framework of theoretical considerations that individuals should take into account in order to organize and sustain a radical movement for social change. As a former union organizer and steelworker and now as a professor of sociology, Aronowitz brings multiple perspectives to the issues surrounding radical action by those seemingly without power in our capitalist political structure. One of his messages in The Death and Rebirth of American Radicalism is that social justice can be reached through organization and collective action.

In chapter five, "Towards a Politics of Alternatives, Part One," Aronowitz reviews and analyzes the historical development of the Communist movement on an international scale, including the limited role of U.S. Communism. Based on this analysis, he notes that "despite considerable historical and biographical scholarship to reveal the hidden history of radicalism we remain victims of the wall of resistance and the pervasive public silence to radical and revolutionary ideas, including those that originated in our own history" (p. 158). Incidents in our history, such as the "Red Scare" of the 1950s, and existing public policy, such as the continued embargo of Cuba, serve to substantiate the limited scope of political options from a radical perspective. Clearly, it is time to open up more options.

The present U.S. political system consists of two major parties, and from the results of recent Presidential elections, when on average only 50 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, many of us don't feel that we are invited to either one. Aronowitz points out this fact in his final chapter, "Towards a Politics of Alternatives, Part Two." He lays out "practical conditions for popular participation which . . . would significantly shift the conduct of everyday life" (p. 184). One of these conditions is popular control over technological development, which would be subject to the criterion of democratic participation as well as economic advantage. This would mean that labor-saving aspects of technology would be weighed against whether this technology would "hurt or assist people to develop their own capacities" (p. 185). In our present predatory culture, the workers are often the prey, while humanity and social responsibility are considered signs of weakness.

The common thread that runs throughout Stanley Aronowitz's "practical conditions" for significant social change, and indeed this entire book, is his attention to humanity and social responsibility. However, his argument is not to be mistaken for the liberal fluff that garnishes the cold steel of federal public assistance cutbacks. He argues for real changes in the social and political structure of the United States. He is not merely proposing changes in how money is spent by the government; he is proposing changes in how the American public participates in government. This book begins by recounting the role of radicalism in the United States, but the real purpose of this volume lies in the final chapter. Rather than succumbing to the "helplessness" that Chomsky warns us is actually an illusion, Aronowitz makes his plea to us, the American public, to begin to organize movements for social justice in situations relevant to us.

r.h.t.

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Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community

by Alfie Kohn.

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996. 166 pp. $17.95 (paper).

Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community provides some food for thought for anyone interested in looking for alternatives to traditional classroom management approaches. It is also pertinent for those interested in moral development, teacher-student relationships, and the application of political and social theory to school contexts in general. It is particularly geared towards teachers, staff, and parents of elementary and secondary school students, with most of its examples taken from elementary school settings.

Alfie Kohn, an educator turned writer, focuses his fifth book on an issue of central concern to any teacher or school administrator. He questions the entire premise upon which the field of classroom management bases itself, believing at the outset that educators should focus their time, energy, and attention on how to prevent the types of behavior that require management and discipline. As Kohn states in his introduction, the concept of "classroom management" assumes that teachers should "have a responsibility to get and maintain control of their classrooms" and to "secure children's compliance with adults' demands" (p. xii). He believes that classroom management and the extrinsic motivation it requires to change children's behavior is a "teacher-directed model" that is driven by a "remarkably negative set of beliefs about the nature of children" (p. xii). In this book he seeks to challenge some basic assumptions behind these notions, and to provide some concrete activities and questions with which teaching staff can engage in order to reflect upon their own student interactions and classroom practices.

The first five chapters examine the assumptions behind traditional disciplinary approaches in general, using a few classroom discipline packages such as "Assertive Discipline" and "Cooperative Discipline" as targets of critique. In chapters one and two, Kohn argues convincingly that traditional disciplinary approaches begin from a negative view of children's nature (and human nature), and that these approaches tend to blame all behavioral problems on what is wrong with children rather than considering larger contextual issues such as curriculum and instruction that may be the source of behavior perceived as disruptive. In chapter three, he builds the case that the use of coercion, punishments, and rewards might result in students' temporary compliance but are not effective approaches for creating a warm, caring, and respectful learning community. In chapter four, Kohn makes the insightful point that what is often considered to be giving students a choice -- either comply or suffer the consequences -- is in fact another form of coercing students into obeying teachers' demands and requirements. He refers to this as a "pseudo-choice" that fails to teach children responsible behavior, and instead teaches them how to avoid punishment or win rewards.

In chapter five, Kohn critiques behaviorism, which is the view of human nature that he attributes to traditional disciplinary strategies, and argues for a constructivist approach to teaching responsible and moral social behavior in students. He writes this chapter from the assumption that constructivist teaching is the desired approach toward fostering a caring, responsible classroom, arguing that children must experience opportunities to construct their understanding of what is morally right or wrong just as they construct their understanding of academic concepts.

In the second part of Beyond Discipline, Kohn attempts to argue for this constructivist approach to teaching socially responsible behavior. In chapter six he asserts that students "learn how to make good choices by making choices, not by following directions" (p. 78). Much of this book, he claims, comes from his experiences with the Child Development Project in Oakland, California; in chapter seven he describes some of the factors that are necessary in a school or classroom for developing caring communities of learning. Finally, in the last chapter he provides some explicit suggestions for teachers and staff developers, including a case that he has used in workshops to generate discussion among teachers on ways to solve classroom problems.

While Kohn avoids providing another packaged strategy as an alternative to traditional disciplinary strategies, he makes a strong argument against behaviorist "classroom management" packages and for supportive environments in which teachers can change their classroom environments and practices to include students as primary collaborators in solving classroom problems. His approach in the first part of the book is to consider very carefully all the assumptions behind traditional practices and to provide evidence from research that demonstrates that these assumptions are, in fact, faulty. Some of his examples of what these packages encourage are shocking if viewed from a constructivist standpoint. He provides an insightful analysis of what is sometimes implicit in classroom discipline. For example, in his discussion of punishments, he attributes a lack of willingness to move away from punishments in part to what he calls a false dichotomy: that if one does not punish, one is not doing anything (p. 31).

For the reader already convinced that an alternative to traditional behaviorist disciplinary techniques is necessary, the first part of the book is somewhat repetitive and the second part not entirely satisfying. While Kohn advocates a constructivist approach to creating a caring classroom community, his approach with his readers is somewhat prescriptive. The latter part of the book, in which he suggests an alternative to "classroom management," lacks the same comprehensive, thoughtful analysis as his critique of traditional classroom discipline. In this part of the book, he tends to leave his opinions and those of the Child Development Project unchallenged rather than posing provocative questions and providing supporting evidence from research. For example, at the beginning of chapter six, he provides an "axiom" and "corollary" (p. 78) without providing evidence or rationale. Later in this chapter he provides a list of what is "good" and what is "better," a curiously patronizing rhetorical strategy for someone who seems to advocate respect for individual sense-making and self-determination.

Despite this paradox in tone and content, Beyond Discipline provides some important questions to consider. Most importantly, Kohn encourages teachers to consider what their classroom learning goals are and how their disciplinary or management strategies might support or undermine them. In addition, in Appendix One, which is a list of Ten Questions that teachers might pose to him and his responses to clarify his position, he specifically provides some guiding questions for teachers who might wish to evaluate discipline packages on their own (p. 138). He also addresses some key questions that he leaves unanswered in the body of the book, such as what a teacher who chooses to abandon a reward/punishment system might expect, what to do in a school situation in which the teacher might be alone in his or her desire to change classroom practices, and how to reconcile differences between classroom expectations and parental discipline. Ultimately, what teachers do to help their students become responsible and caring members of a community cannot be examined fully and fairly without considering the constraints of the school administrative context and the expectations of the larger community.

b.t.

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Gender, Ethnicity, and the State: Latina and Latino Prison Politics

by Juanita Diaz-Cotto.

Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. 480 pp. $24.95 (paper).

This comprehensive and analytical book focuses on a long-neglected condition -- that of Latina/o inmates within the New York State penal system. The book has been exhaustively researched and passionately written by Juanita Diaz-Cotto, a long-time advocate for prisoner rights and presently a professor of Sociology, Women Studies, and Latin American/Caribbean Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. The author traces the organizational strategies for reform undertaken by Latina/o prisoners, the participation of their respective outside communities, and recalcitrant policies of the penal system from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. This history is especially illuminating and engrossing within the context of New York City jail rebellions and the Attica Rebellion in the 1970s.

The author compellingly documents the prisons' dehumanizing policies (alternatively punishment or rehabilitation) and the strategies of divide and conquer among inmates along the lines of ethnicity, language, sex, and gender differences. Diaz-Cotto's two extended case studies provide the reader with the singular experience of personalizing the harsh/tender voices of marginalized and incarcerated men and women.

The penal authorities made some of their most virulent responses against inmates' demands for bilingual programs and academic and vocational schooling. This was because teachers were perceived as dangerous agencies of empowerment. The penal authorities were not used to seeing professionals who were Latinas/os, and these professionals were constantly harassed and intimidated by the racist correctional guards of the time.

Throughout this period, most Latina prisoners were prevented from participating in educational programs. According to the author, "The current research has shown that the attempts by women prisoners to empower themselves were primarily thwarted, not by their passivity, their apolitical stance, or the existence of prison families and network, as some social scientists have argued, but by structural barriers created by penal personnel and the lack of third party support" (p. 408).

Diaz-Cotto also reports that Latina/o prisoners continue to be overrepresented nationally in both federal institutions and state facilities. Most Latina/o inmates come from impoverished families and tend to be the most "educationally disadvantaged" (only 13.3 percent of males and 16.7 percent of females are high school graduates).

This book should be read by all educators, especially those committed to critical pedagogy. Too often and for too long, schools have made Latina/o youth expendable and consigned them to a barred labyrinth of involuntary solitude.

f.g.b.