2000 Alpha Sigma Nu National Jesuit Book Award Winners

 The following reviews are the opinions of the individual judges.

In the Discipline of Natural Sciences

Infrared and Raman Spectra of Inorganic and Coordination Compounds, Part A Theory and Applications in Inorganic Chemistry; Part B Applications in Coordination, Organometallic and Bioinorganic Chemistry (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997) by Kazuo Nakamoto (Professor of Chemistry, Marquette University).

Now in its 5th edition, Nakamoto's book continues to be the first choice of chemists for reliable and current information on vibrational spectroscopy of inorganic and related compounds. In addition to its value as a reference volume for researchers, Part A includes the extensive and clearly presented section on the theory underlying infrared and Raman spectroscopy.

In the Discipline of Health Sciences

The Roy Adaptation Model-Based Research: 25 Years of Contributions to Nursing Science (CENTER NURSING PRESS, 1999) by Sr. Callista Roy, RN, PhD, FAAN (Professor of Nursing, Boston College) is a serious and exact scholarly contribution of the Boston Based Adaptation Research in Nursing Society.

The book consists of a critical analysis and synthesis of 5 years and 163 studies based on the Roy Adaptation Model. The synthesis of findings includes applications for nursing practice, research and theory. Research findings are well-explained and are reflective of knowledge gained from extensive literature. While this work represents a significant contribution to nursing, it is not limited only to nursing scholars. Scholars in other health disciplines helping clients with adaptation can also benefit from its findings.

In the Disciplines of Mathematics/Computer Science

The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra (SPRINGER-VERLAG, 1997) by Benjamin Fine (Professor of Mathematics, Fairfield University) and Gerhard Rosenberger (University of Dortmund, Germany).

This is both an attractively written and a well-manufactured book about one of the most important theorems in mathematics. The authors have done a fine job in presenting its many sorts of proofs, which provides the reader an opportunity to delve deeply into a wide variety of mathematics.

In the Disciplines of Social Sciences

In Defense of a Political Court (review # 1) (Princeton University Press, 1999) by Terri Jennings Peretti (Professor of Political Science, Santa Clara University).

This book represents a bold move away from the myth of "neutral courts" in the United States. By relying on a wealth of scholarly material, the author clearly demonstrates that politically motivated decision-making by the courts is inevitable. Furthermore, the author convincingly shows how and why different U.S. presidents have historically chosen Supreme Court justices to suit their ideological values in order to enhance their policy preferences. Despite its scholarly vigor and its intended academic audience, In Defense of a Political Court is very readable and can be beneficial to both specialists and others interested in the American judicial process. The book will have continuing importance to scholars in several disciplines, such as political science, sociology, legal studies, and history.

In Defense of a Political Court (review #2) (Princeton University Press, 1999) by Terri Jennings Peretti (Professor of Political Science, Santa Clara University).

Peretti describes three conventional schools that demand a politically neutralist approach to Supreme Court decision-making: (1) Interpretevists who favor strict interpretation of the Constitution based on the Framers' intentions; (2) Noninterpretevists, who would add substantive morality to the Constitution by incorporating legitimate values and principles of justice (conventional morality, human rights, privacy, natural law, equal citizenship, etc.); (3) a process-based theory of judicial review, in which the Court should impose no values but would intervene only when the democratic process is systematically malfunctioning. The School of Critical Legal Studies denies that there is any method of legal reasoning independent of the ideology of the judge. All Constitutional interpretation is bound to be discretionary and subjective: no unified intent of Framers can be found; noninterpretevists cannot agree on which moral/social values should be imposed; the "process perfectors" cannot know when to intervene without their own full theory of substantive rights and values, because every voting issue involves value conflicts. Skeptics of "judicial restraint" and "utopian" hopes for change look to Congress to restrain the Court from going too far (by restricting its jurisdiction or by corrective legislation and appropriations of funds, or by amending the Constitution). All the foregoing schools, says the author, fear a political Court; they believe that letting Justices "voted their values" is the very definition of judicial tyranny. They really cannot resolve the dilemma of reconciling judicial review with the principles of majoritarian, representative democracy.

Peretti strongly advocates a frank acceptance that the Supreme Court is both a legal and political body, and believes that this would enhance democracy. Traditional scholars, she says, have given a bad rap to political judges and have ignored, overlooked or denied the virtues of political voting on the Court. The ideal of a disinterested, a-political judge is totally unreal in her eyes. She argues that value voting is a form of political representation; it activates effective political checks on the Court; it is conducive to engaging justices in democratic consensus-building. She demonstrates persuasively that Supreme Court justices are nominated and approved by a highly political process because of party loyalties and political/ideological commitments, and that, in fact, they rather consistently decide cases on the basis of ideological preferences antedating their appointment. Their values are highly likely to reflect values recently or currently dominant in society (or at least "on the way" toward significance). If presidents sometimes express "surprise" at how their nominees turn out, that is more due to their own miscalculation than to a metamorphosis by justices after they join the Court. The author blames law scholars and professors for propagating the myth that public reverence for the court (which, Peretti argues, is not empirically verifiable) would suffer greatly if it is acknowledged that the justices voted their personal preferences.

The author shows a complete mastery of the literature by citing more than 800 relevant sources in more than a thousand Notes, most of which contain several references to recognized authorities in the field. The text throughout is logically organized with excellent introductions and conclusions to each chapter which tie the work together elegantly. Her analysis is tightly reasoned, very sophisticated, and replete with subtle intellectual distinctions. It demands the full attention of the reader's mind. Finally, the author makes her case in an extremely persuasive manner. I had been a "conventional" teacher in my Constitutional Law course. This book has altered my position.

 

Honorable Mention in the category of Social Science

Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America (review #1) (Columbia University Press, 1999) by Steven M. Gelber (Santa Clara University)

The author, a seasoned scholar, has chosen to explore in depth a somewhat neglected scholarly topic, the pursuit of hobbies in American life. He has formulated an interesting thesis about the complex interrelationship between work and leisure, and he applies this thesis to his analysis of hobbies. The scholarship here seems to be deep and rich, and support for the central thesis of the book is marshaled in an impressive way. It seems to me that this book would be of potential interest to scholars in a number of different fields - including history, sociology, psychology, and recreation - as it intersects with a wide range of issues. In addition, this well-written book should be of interest to a broad readership since a search for the right balance between work and leisure is a part of the lives of most of us, and most people have one or more hobbies, broadly defined.

Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America (review #2) (Columbia University Press, 1999) by Steven M. Gelber (Santa Clara University)

Any book about hobbies which carries some 800 pertinent notes is bound to be scholarly, but this book is not simply scholarly - it has something interesting to say on every page. Gelber starts with a thought-provoking theoretical introduction to the relationship between work and leisure in Anglo-Saxon culture. As with many concepts in the field of sociology, the definition of "leisure" is hard to pin down. The Western industrial world has usually thought of leisure as something a bit more trivial and less ennobling than its connotation in ancient Greece, where it was supposed to permit a full political existence and lead to philosophical, aesthetic and spiritual contemplation. For the West since 1850, it has meant the opposite of obligatory, compensated work - almost any pleasurable, voluntary activity in one's free time to provide relaxation and a healthy respite from the drudgery of labor, something that balances work and provides what is missing at work. He is quick to note that there may be pleasure at work and labor at leisure, especially in a culture that censures idleness and reproduces the ideology of market capitalism. Work is held to be good for its own sake, while leisure is suspect according to the "work ethic" unless it produces something useful. The great danger is "wasting time" because it is bad for the character. As modern industrial productivity has shortened the working day (or night) and increased leisure, new activities had to fill the vacuum: "Idle hands,etc." Amateur sports, hobbies such as collecting and handicrafts, volunteering to help others or serve society burgeoned to generate an expanded sense of competence and achievement. Gradually there emerged the realization that hobbies could be not merely for fun but also for profit. Collectors and craftmakers developed pride of ownership and skill. Hobbies generated business and vice versa. The line between work and hobbies became blurred: Some hobbies balanced work; others replicated it ("Do-it-yourself" tools and kits could help one to do both).

Gelber gives fascinating examples of many types of collectibles from objets d'art and rare books to cigar bands, campaign buttons and beer cans (a sign of the democratization of "culture"). He analyzes the foibles of various types of collectors, and traces the history of several crafts, showing how some people become slaves to their hobbies while contributing to the capitalist economic system. This book is highly readable and quite original, even though its subject matter may not be a priority issue on the national agenda.

A valuable by-product of reading the book is a reassessment of one's own attitude toward work and leisure, as well as the interest one cultivates in leisure time. Are they a refreshing, creative escape from "work," or a pleasurable replication of work itself? Perhaps the happy person is one who cannot tell the difference.

Reviews of Notable Books

The Roy Adaptation Model (Appleton Lange, 1998) by Sister Callista Roy (Boston College) and Heather Andrews (Quality Leadership Associates).

This book is an excellent resource for understanding the Roy Adaptation model. The model is thoroughly described including each of the 16-adaptation modes. Detailed information on client assessment, behavior and stimuli is provided for case of application to clinical practice. Exercises for application of the model in clinical practice are also included, as well as uses of the model for research are also included. The book represents serious, exacting scholarship that is written so that a student health care professional can easily understand and apply the principles involved.

Thinking Strategies for Nursing Practice (Lippencott, 1998) by Marsha Fonteyn (University of San Francisco).

The goal of this book is to teach clinical reasoning in a systematic fashion for beginning nursing students. The first half of the book consists of chapters describing thinking processes; the last section of the book focuses on clinical dilemmas. Clinical cases are described followed by a series of questions for students to apply the use of selective thinking processes. It is one of the first books of its type and represents mastery of extensive literature.

Case Studies in Pharmacy Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1999) by Robert Veatch (Georgetown University) and Amy Haddad (Creighton University)

Gone are the days when a pharmacist is considered to be doing a good job by simply following orders. Pharmacists no longer accommodate any and all requests. Ethical dilemmas resonate with conflict and this book explores ethics and values in pharmacy with ethical principles as they apply to pharmacy situations. The last section of the book explores special pharmacy issues such as birth control, abortion, genetics, and behavior control with drugs, research issues and death/dying.

Fundamentals of Nursing: Human Health & Function (Lippincott, 2000) by Ruth Craven (University of Washington) and Constance Hirnle (Seattle University).

The nursing practice focuses of human function and wellness is the basis of assessment and the nursing interventions employed in basic nursing practice. The audience is students preparing for beginning nursing practice. Information is provided to build basic knowledge in assessment, planning and promoting self-care. New features with this edition include NIC/NOC examples, research captions, highlighted sections on critical thinking, outcomes based on teaching plans and ethical/legal issues. The book layout is attractive, including use of colors, tables, and charts, which makes for a clear presentation of information.

The Catholic Church and Democracy in Chile and Peru (review #1) (University of Notre Dame Press, 1997) by Michael Fleet (Marquette University) and Brian H. Smith (Ripon College)

The authors begin with an excellent overview of the history of the Catholic Church by identifying "...five different models of Church scripture and apostolic practice." This is followed by an assessment of the Church's response to four modern challenges. From this initial examination a conceptual framework is designed and applied to the Church and its role in Chile and Peru. After a thorough study of both countries, the authors provide thoughtful conclusions about the Church in Chile and Peru. Not only is the reader given an insightful view of the Catholic Church, but detailed assessments of the political-military-religious system in Chile and Peru, and the successes and failures of the Church in both countries. This is not limited to institutional structures and leadership, but includes the role of the people and local Church clergy.

Underpinning this framework is a historical overview of the evolution of the local Churches in both countries. Thus, the reader is provided not only with insights of the Catholic Church as an international and national institution, but also with a study of the role of local parishes, clergy, and lay activists within each country. One learns, for example, that the local Churches often have been at odds with the national and international direction of the Church. This two dimensional study international and national, with local dimension not only provides a unique perspective, it provides the reader with a clear and comprehensive view of the Church and its impact on the political-military system in both countries.

Finally, the authors support their study with extensive notes, detailed sources, and bibliography. They provide comprehensive insights into the existing literature and appear to be objective in their analysis and conclusions.

The Catholic Church and Democracy in Chile and Peru (review #2) (University of Notre Dame Press, 1997) by Michael Fleet (Marquette University) and Brian H. Smith (Ripon College)

This is a study of the involvement of the Catholic Church in the transition to democracy, and its consolidation, in Chile and Peru during the twentieth century. It deals with the efforts of the Church to come to grips with the historical emergence of democratic government, especially since World War II  a mode of political organization to which it had been unfriendly, both in Europe and in Latin America, all through the nineteenth and most of the first half of the twentieth century. Rome and the universal Church had always shown a commitment in its teaching, if not always in practice, to the poorer classes in society, a commitment strongly reiterated by Pope Leo XIII, but not until it experienced the evil of totalitarian regimes in the twentieth century did it begin to accommodate itself to liberal democracy. It was much easier for the Church in Latin America to press for social justice than it was to extricate itself from its alliance with authoritarian governments and military regimes.

The authors treat the evolution of Church attitudes in the framework of its central spiritual mission (which transcends politics), its own monarchical model, challenges from secular society, and its new political roles as moral tutor, social leaven, and surrogate social and political actor. They examine in detail the reactions of sacramental Catholics, organizational Catholics, and cultural Catholic to changes in the various models of Church as community, herald, servant, institution and sacrament. This framework enables them one a political scientist and the other an ecclesiologist to pursue their scholarship in a manner which is optimally clear and efficient, and which provides an excellent, logical organization for the demonstration of their hypotheses.

This study shows with admirable clarity and persuasiveness how the Latin American Catholic bishops have had to walk a slippery tightrope stretched among the three different groups among the faithful, avoiding the Scylla of political involvement on the one hand, and, on the other, the Charybdis of jeopardizing not merely its "institutional interests" but  most importantly its fundamental and primary spiritual mission. They have tried to maintain a balanced posture among leftists, moderates and conservatives. Most of the bishops have seemed to be aware that they risk the unity and integrity of the Church whenever they become too specific in their commitment to any particular political ideology or party. Thus they must condemn both the tendency of the right to ignore the "cry of the poor" and the tendency of the left to make light of faith doctrines and the sacraments of salvation. The Church and the bishops, including the conservatives, are now committed to democracy; they do not wish to return to dictatorships of left or right, having experienced how they harm the Church. Conflict over liberal legislation and traditional Church teaching on personal and family morality can be expected to continue. Because Latin American culture remains predominantly Catholic, despite worrisome inroads being made by Protestant sects, a schism with the Church is not a likely scenario because the Church is genuinely concerned over social justice and the leftist activists cannot afford to separate from Church organization and resources. The book indicates that the experience of the Church in Chile and Peru may have universal implications and is not irrelevant to the problems facing the bishops in the United States, where the dangers of a fragmenting Church in a heterogeneous materialist culture may be greater.

Ebb Tide in New England (review #1) (Northeastern University Press, 1998) by Elaine Crane (Fordham University).

Ebb Tide in New England is an excellent piece of scholarship. Dr. Crane's research is extensive and sound. While Dr. Crane focuses on 17^th and 18^th century New England, she does a masterful job of linking women's experiences during these years to the feminization of poverty in the contemporary United States. The topic is very important, and this work is likely to have a significant impact on scholarship in the areas of history, American studies, women's studies, and sociology. Dr. Crane imaginatively interweaves the experiences of individual women with careful, scholarly examination of historical trends in major societal institutions. The result is a solid, historical analysis that is, at the same time, highly readable and provocative.

Ebb Tide in New England (review #2) (Northeastern University Press, 1998) by Elaine Crane (Fordham University).

Crane's basic thesis is that during the period covered, the position of women in four New England seaport cities and towns Boston, Newport, Portsmouth and Salem became increasingly more circumscribed in family, religion, law, economy and education. There was a European connection: European women were also becoming more dependent on men than they had been in the medieval period. Two factors differentiated the situation New England from that in Europe. Whereas in Europe, Catholicism offered more opportunities for women to become educated in convents, to become abbesses, and to forge political and financial relationships with powerful men in the early Middle Ages, Protestantism was the dominant religion in New England; the lack of religious orders and convents hampered female education; the stronger Protestant commitment to Scripture made for a more patriarchal family structure. As political centralization occurred in both regions (later in New England), women participated less in public life, in the churches, craft guilds, city/town councils, schools, professions and economic life in general as the part played by the family in production and marketing declined. The second differentiating factor of which Crane makes much was a surplus of women in the population sex ratio which skewed male-female relations in several dimensions of life.

The author has delved deeply into the records of the four towns in question. She presents overwhelming statistical data in the first chapter to make her point about women outnumbering men probably more than needed to convince fastidious readers. Crane begins each chapter with a story of a woman as a stage-setter for the topic, and throughout each chapter there is a wealth of detail about individual cases. This gives the work an interesting personal touch. The author warns frequently that the records she is dealing with are often sketchy or incomplete a fact which prevents firm statistical conclusions and requires imaginative interpretations at times, which on the whole seem quite credible. Thus she paints a picture of how women's legal control over property weakened; how female economic independence both in marriage and widowhood declined, how women's role in church congregational governance became more constricted in Puritan and most Protestant cultures (except Quaker) through "systematic suppression female speech," traceable to interpretations of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. Gradually women became less visible in church, law and the economy coincidentally with their increasing sex ratio. They were less likely than men to run mercantile establishments, shops, distilleries and taverns. Men were usually but not always paid more than women for the same work (outside the family). Only women became dependent on church doles for food, clothing and medical assistance; it became increasingly difficult for them to obtain credit to start a business; married women could not make contracts; could not sue or be sued independently of their husbands. Since men defined the moral code for women, the latter were held more responsible for sexual crimes (fornication and adultery). There was a double standard for punishing female and male offenders: women were often found guilty and punished with whipping or imprisonment while the male partners who pleaded not guilty were acquitted. In seaport towns, where many men are absent at sea for months at a time, the patriarchal obligation to control women fell upon town officials. Crane generally makes her case well, although a few minor contradictory, anomalous or confusing interpretations of her findings creep in here and there, but not enough to detract from this carefully researched study. The work casts light on the "feminization of poverty" at least in four seaport communities in New England.

Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls (review #1) (University of California Press, 1997) by Esther Madriz (University of San Francisco)

This work fills an important gap in the research on fear of crime in several ways. First, whereas the majority of previous research is based on quantitative surveys, this research is based on qualitative interviews and focus groups, which provides insights not easily obtained from surveys. Second, by focusing specifically on women, Dr. Madriz is able to address a continuing puzzle in the field: why is it that women are at the lowest risk of being crime victims, and yet demonstrate the highest levels of fear of crime? Third, Dr. Madriz's sample includes women of varying ages, and very significantly, minority women. This is extremely important given that there is a marked tendency in the literature to focus on the experiences of white, middle-class women. For these reasons, this work makes a strong contribution in both the fields of Criminology and Sociology, as well as Women's Studies. Dr. Madriz uses ample interview excerpts to allow her respondents to speak for themselves, but at the same time, she includes strong analysis and interpretation of the interviews. Overall, I feel it is a very strong piece of scholarship.

Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls (review #2) (University of California Press, 1997) by Esther Madriz (University of San Francisco)

Despite the jazzy title, this is a serious work based on a vast amount of research into academic and journalistic sources. The author admits what all social scientists know (often without admitting it) namely, that it is virtually impossible to build anything but a shaky, ricketing bridge between the macro and the micro, between society and the individual, between quantitative, correlational generalizations and the qualitative subtleties of single case, between the disciplines of sociology and psychology. Nevertheless, Madriz has made a brave and imaginative effort at such bridge-building. She rejects the objectivist approach to crime and other social problems taken by most sociologist (Merton, Parsons, Nisbet, etc. and the Marxists) and adopts instead a social constructionist perspective, which "takes into account how, why and by whom the crime problem is defined" within the whole economic, social and political power structure of society. She is particularly concerned with why the fear of crime in America has increased in recent years despite falling crime rates, why women are more afraid of being victimized than men, and why poor African-American and Latina women are more fearful than white women. Her special methodology entailed thirty in-depth interviews and eighteen focus group sessions with a total of 143 women of different social, economic, racial and age backgrounds in New York and New Jersey in the year period 1994-95. Although the author says "this book relies entirely on women's stories," she intersperses them with conclusions drawn from well over a hundred sociological studies and journalistic articles. Her interview provide compelling insights into women's fear of becoming victims of crime, and how their fear limits the freedom of action of women in different social positions " avoiding certain people, places, times and modes of travel outside their dwellings, changing their dress, behaviors, attitudes, etc. This is undoubtedly the most valuable part of the work. At times the reader is inundated with information, analysis and observations about criminology and crime rates, the vulnerability of women (alleged or real), the role of the media, the socialization of girls, popular images of criminals, harassment, police, punishment, prisons, tendency of politicians to play on people's fears, and the efforts of women to maximize their security.

The book's weakness consists in the fact that all the evidence the author adduces does not fit together in a coherent, logically organized analysis. Both the personal interviews and the sociological theories do not always reinforce each other, and sometimes appear contradictory. One derives the impression that most public policies aimed at ameliorating the "crime problem" are not only misguided and irrational, but part of a sinister unspoken conspiracy by the dominant elements in the social power structure to deny women their equal rights and perpetuate their situation of subordination and control in a male-dominated culture. The author often moves rapidly from one aspect of the problem to another without connecting them firmly. Her interview reports engender sympathy in the reader for the dilemmas of women: Men tell them to be extremely careful for their own good, but also accuse them of being paranoid. Her main hypothesis is an interesting, indeed an arresting and credible one, but her proposed solutions advice on female behavior and on public policies sometimes contravene mainstream social science and common sense. Madriz wants a radical feminist social reconstruction that is simply not realistic from a political standpoint.

The Smoke of Satan (review #1) (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999) by Michael W. Cuneo (Fordham University)

This book explores a number of different strains of conservative and traditionalist dissent in contemporary American Catholicism. The author, a sociologist, achieves a masterful mixture of interviews with diverse sources to produce a highly readable, provocative accounting of dissident Catholics, understood both in relation to the impact of Vatican II and to various social forces of the past several decades. This book should not only be of interest to academics in a number of different fields, including sociology, history, and theology, but also to anyone interested in the contemporary character of American Catholicism.

The Smoke of Satan (review #2) (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999) by Michael W. Cuneo (Fordham University)

Without clearly distinguishing "conservative" and "traditionalist" in the title, the author divides the "Catholic right" (as viewed, it seems, from the Catholic liberal left) into three competing ideological camps, all of this he lumps together in a "Catholic underground," to be found in small pockets scattered throughout the countryâ?¦made up of people who are in rebellion against the new comforts and freedoms of American Catholicism" (p. 4).

The first "faction" consists of Catholic conservatives, typified by the CUF, deeply disturbed by the revolutionary transformation wrought by Vatican II, unable to question its legitimacy without impugning the teaching authority of the Papacy to which they are loyal, seeking to achieve moral purification and renewal through a passionate commitment to pro-life/anti-abortion movements, sometimes accusing the American bishops of failing to give them adequate support. Cuneo distinguishes properly between moderate pro-lifers who prefer to rely upon natural law arguments and scientific education of the public to save the fetus, and anti-abortion militants who made it a religious issue and took their battle to the streets. Cuneo does not really probe the reasons why the bishops have preferred to stay out of the political fray. In my estimation, he exaggerates when he writes that the conservatives have "consistently denounced" them for "moral cowardice on the issue." (p.180).

The second "faction" is comprised of Catholic traditionalist separatists who are determined to isolate themselves from an institutional Church in a process of "complete spiritual meltdown" and who urge loyal believers to withdraw and "create alternative communities of their own." It includes Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X, Mount St. Michael's, etc. They totally reject the new Mass and Vatican II, hold to a variety of sedevacantist conspiracy theories (recent Popes have been false popes), and carry on Apostolic teaching through their own bishops and priests. The third faction, Catholic Marianist/Apocalypticists "turn to the more exotic realm of miraculous apparitions and mystical prophecy" and forecast catastrophe and damnation for a sinful world. Cuneo has gone about his task of studying these latter two groups like an investigative report, conducting interviews, consulting journalistic accounts, and wading through a vast amount of "samizdat" publications  magazines, bulletins and brochures hitherto largely unknown to academic scholars. He presents a not-too-flattering picture of rivalry and competition for public attention, membership and financial support, and depicts a few group leaders a financial embezzlers or "seers" ambitious for fame.

The author proceeds from a decidedly liberal interpretation of Vatican II. "The traditional postulates of the faith," he writes, "had been exposed as transitory and dispensable" (p. 14). He postulates too much of a discontinuity between the pre-Council and post-Council Church, as though abandoning the form of the Tridentine Latin Mass was a harbinger of scrapping the content of traditional theological and moral doctrines. Since Vatican II, "a new or progressive approach to Catholic theology has won almost compete ascendancy within the American church, and in the process everything from the Virgin Birth to the Resurrection has been debunked and deconstructed and demythologized" (p. 27), particularly in Catholic institutions of higher education, including seminaries (p. 28). Cuneo tries to state fairly the concerns of those he interviewed, but his admitted liberal perspective detracts somewhat from the objectivity and accuracy with which he treats American Catholic conservatives and traditionalists as a "fundamentalist" underground (p. 182).

Reinventing Revolution (Westview Press, 1997) by Edward J. McCaughan (Loyola University New Orleans)

This book explores how intellectuals in particular have coped with inevitable societal changes in two countries, Cuba and Mexico, during the recent era. In particular, the author has interviewed a large number of such intellectuals in these countries in the interest of understanding how they might have moved from a commitment to revolutionary goals to a more pragmatic realism appropriate to the circumstances of what is labeled here as the renovation of left discourse. The author demonstrates a good command of the relevant literature on both paradigm shifts and economic system transformations to provide a framework for interpreting the results of his interviews. This book should be of interest to sociologists and political scientists who are concerned with political ideology and transformation.