Book Reviews / Comptes Rendus 127 CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 36, No. 2, 2006, pages 127- 131 Book Reviews / Comptes rendus Eisenmann, L. (2006) Higher education for women in postwar America, 19451965. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006. Pages: 304 Price: 42.00 USD. Reviewed by Patricia Villamor Manero Universidad Complutense de Madrid Linda Eisenmann is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at John Carroll University. Her book pays particular attention to professional women between 1945-65, an area often neglected in favour of a preoccupation with issues of representation of domestic life during that period. On one side, the book offers an interesting analysis of the ideologies dominant during the postwar period and the consequent expectations for women at the time. In this way, the author tries to connect the experience of women in higher education with dominant social expectations and their influence on prevalent behaviours. On the other side, the author makes a serious effort to identify what women did in higher education during this time. Women’s work in higher education and the struggles they experienced configurated the activism typical of the period. The work of many women in research, teaching, and educational policy-making provided the basis for further developments. The author builds an argument that points to the understanding of the achievements of the period under consideration as a bridge between the limiting social expectations of the postwar period and the radical demands of the feminist movement at the end of the 1960s. The author identifies four major sets of expectations and related ideologies potentially influencing women’s behaviour: patriotic duties, economic participation, cultural roles, and psychological needs. The patriotic ideology encouraged women to assume the role of those in charge of domestic activities. A patriotic woman would accept this role as well as the notion that certain professions such as nursing were more adequate for women, while other jobs had to be freed for men who returned from the war. The economic ideology at the time saw women as less committed to their jobs. This assumption had educational implications because there was no motivation to generate educational programs supporting women in the professions. 128 CJHE / RCES Volume 36, No. 1, 2006 However, there were changes in the labour market during this period partly as consequence of women’s advocacy. For example, there was an increase in the number of part-time jobs. The cultural ideology supported the vision of the woman as the sustaining force of the family and appeared associated with the image of residential neighborhoods. Domestic and maternal values were widely expounded. Lastly, psychological ideas of the time were related to a vision of the woman as instrumental in the well being of men and children, and as a builder of national stability. In practice, most women created their own balance way of living their personal and family life. The author shows how the ideologies mentioned above influenced the curricula of educational institutions. In spite of an increasing number of women attending post-secondary institutions, there was a tendency to treat them as incidental students. In fact, some universities restricted the admission of women in order to give room to war veterans. Although there were women in academia, their numbers varied as a function of the prestige of the institution and the specialization. The author provides a rich account of the various sub-cultures in higher education and their relationships with the various ideologies. The second part of the book examines the role of women in institutions of higher education at various levels and their participation in organizations dealing with women research issues and educational policies. The author narrates the history of the Commission on the Education of Women, sponsored by the American Council on Education from 1953 to 1962. She reviews its formative years, evolution, and financial difficulties and provides a profile of the women involved in its creation. One of the goals of the organization was to resume the content of research on women and finance new projects. The Commission published four reports and was able to attract public and professional attention to women’s issues. The analysis of the American Association of Deans of Women (NADW) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) provided a window into the situation of women in higher education. These organizations had a great influence on university women’s lives. The author also examines John Kennedy’s President’s Commission on the Status of Women which emphasized the role of education as a facilitator of social change. The last part of the book deals with the growth of continuing education programs for women during the early 1960s. These programs provided an avenue for women who desired to pursue further education while keeping their domestic roles. The author tells us that the first experience of continuing education for women took place at the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Plan for the Continuing Education of Women. The programs offered orientation services and discussion of issues of concern for women on campus as well as programs for mature women who had not pursued further formal education before. The programs contemplated various options including work at home, weekend seminars, and provision of day-care services for children. In New York, Sarah Lawrence College opened a centre for the continuing education Book Reviews / Comptes Rendus 129 of women in 1962 offering courses and personal counseling. The Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study offered from 1960 onwards scholarships for professional women willing to continue their education at the graduate level. There is also a reference to the Center for the Education of Women created at the University of Michigan in 1964 and its preoccupation with women’s professional aims. Flexibility has been, in the author’s view, the key to success. Continuing education remained disconnected from collective action until the feminist movement started to demand a place for women and their experiences on university campuses and in university programs. This is an important book that makes a substantial contribution to the understanding of the transition between the postwar era and the women’s movements of the sixties. Wilde, Stephanie, Ed. (2005) Political and citizenship education: International perspectives, Vol. 14, Oxford Studies in Comparative Education, Oxford, Symposium Books. Pages: 144 Price: 42.00 USD (paper). Reviewed by Yvonne Hebert University of Calgary This is a superb book, in a handy slim volume, very readable and widely suitable for all teacher educators, graduate students and teachers-in-preparation. Organized around issues of political citizenship, the volume offers broad geographical range and country reports. Briefly introduced by the editors, the chapters occur in two groupings. The first four chapters consist of reports of 14-year olds, from four countries (US, England, Australia, Hong King) on the results of their participation in the citizenship education study of the International Association of Educational Achievement (IEA), 1994-2000. These broad portrayals are balanced by case studies of citizenship in educational settings in Czechoslovakia and Germany. The first issue addressed, how students become citizens, is well illustrated with the American data. While the US participants generally have a good understanding of democratic principles, attitudes and behaviours, Carole Hahn also finds that school practices, open discussion, and classroom climate are key to the development of positive attitudes towards nation, symbols, and government institutions. Further research is needed, especially on the influences of class, race and gender with respect to citizenship knowledge and attitudes. A second issue, of the impact and influence of participation in the IEA study, is addressed with the English data set. David Kerr emphasizes that without a tradition of explicit citizenship education at the time of the study, the debate in England benefited greatly from the insights derived from the IEA study. This data set led to the formulation of an agenda of nine research questions, including these topics: how to help students develop depth of understanding