Book Re vie ws/Comptes Rendus 139 The experiment of allowing politicians to educate us down to their level has been tried. On the whole, it was worked out badly...There will be no end to the unreal politics of the academy until we have again a real politics outside the academy. It cannot come too soon. (p. 236) Aside from its flaws, and there are certainly a plethora of ideas and concepts within the text that can and should be questioned, Bromwich has crafted a major work of criticism which illuminates a way of interpreting the relationship between the politics of the gown and of the town during the Reagan era. Scholars of higher education who seek to understand and analyze the events of this period should consider and debate his intriguing thesis. Jarvis, Donald K. Junior Faculty Development: A Handbook. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1991. Price: $39.50 U.S. (cloth). Reviewed by Janet Donald, Director, Centre for University Teaching and Learning, McGill University. This small book is premised on the fact that since universities invest over one million dollars in each faculty member during a thirty-five year career, faculty development programs, which enhance the return on investment, are not only humane and practical, but wise economically. The author is a humanities professor whose administrative responsibilities made him aware that nearly half the members at his university would need to be replaced in the next fifteen years. Realizing the need to help a large influx of junior professors, he interviewed over 100 influential faculty members (teachers, researchers, and administrators) at eight representative American universities and colleges to uncover their views of teaching and faculty development. He also visited institutions which had faculty development programs and interviewed persons responsible for teaching fellowship programs. The result is an easy-to-read book which argues provocatively for aiding the junior faculty, discusses evaluation and reward methods, and examines how programs can be organized to improve junior faculty research, teaching, and service. The book provides perspective on how faculty are and should be rewarded. Since rewards indicate the institution's actual, as opposed to stated, value system, Jarvis suggests that standards for promotion, tenure, and merit raises should embody the goals of the academic unit and reward those who work toward them. He points out that emphasis on research is a relatively recent Book Re vie ws/Comptes Rendus 140 phenomenon in the university, having been considered odd, if not harmful, two or three decades ago. His interviewees recommend that there should be more balance in reward criteria. They also favoured higher minimum standards for teaching, and greater flexibility and variety in criteria to allow for more diversity in faculty skills and interests. Jarvis contrasts research in the humanities and sciences, suggesting that while a scientific conception of progress has guided much university research, humanities professors have a more difficult time proving that thinking has progressed from the time of Plato or Lao-tzu. A major theme running through the book is the need to develop a community of scholars, where mentors will provide advice and good role models in a collegial atmosphere: "the pursuit of truth in the company of friends" (p. 40). Practical advice on writing (brief, daily periods of undisrupted writing), on the preparation of a teaching dossier, and on designing a prestigious faculty development program makes the book a worthwhile purchase. Advice for faculty development programs includes recommendations such as choosing the achievers, rather than those who need remediation, to participate. Two other recommendations worthy of special note are selecting intellectually stimulating topics for discussion, and transcending disciplines, a practice we have found successful, even though professors often ask for "discipline-based" groups. The book closes with two Utopian visions, one minimalist, the other maximalist, of what university administrators can do to put faculty development programs in place. In summary, a short but very useful book for university administrators and faculty to have on their shelves. Remus, Harold; Clossin, William James; and Fraikin, Daniel. Religious in Ontario: A State-of-the-Art Review. Studies Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992, pp.xviii; 422. Price: $24.95 (paper). Reviewed by Ronald Neufeldt, Head, Religious Studies Department, University of Calgary. T h i s is t h e t h i r d v o l u m e in a s e r i e s e n t i t l e d , The Study Canada/Sciences Religieuses of Religion in au Canada, following on two volumes dedicated to the analysis of the study of religion in Alberta and the study of religion in Quebec. This is the most ambitious volume to date for two reasons. First, the number of programs in Ontario colleges and universities makes any attempt at analysis a formidable task indeed. Second, no previous studies had been done for Ontario. The authors were therefore working "from scratch," so to speak. In spite of these difficulties, Professors Remus, James, and Fraikin have succeeded