Many universities and colleges in their mission statements express the intention of their students becoming critical thinkers. This work clearly lays out in great detail one way to go about this process. Brookfield is primarily a teacher of critical theory for graduate students at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul. His book will be valuable to any teacher interested in encouraging students to identify and challenge dominant ideologies present in their lives. He reminds us to remain engaged in critical pedagogy throughout our careers.

The book is organized around the three concepts of ideology, alienation and power. Brookfield draws on the works of Marx, Adorno, Fromm, Horkheimer, Althusser, Foucault, Marcuse, Habermas, hooks, Gramsci, Davis and others to illustrate the usefulness of critical theory in helping students understand and then change the world. He also reminds us that students should be encouraged in healthy skepticism of any and all theorists.

Through intellectual debate we can provide knowledge and understanding so students can free themselves and others from oppression. "Not only does the theory criticize society, it also envisages a fairer, less alienated, more democratic world" (p. 27). One important task is to recognize and challenge the ideology that portrays as natural the exploitation of many by the few. This task includes critical analyses of adult education. Brookfield's writing encourages and reminds us to engage in divergent thinking about many factors including the dominance of the economic domain in our lives.

In the chapter on unmasking power, the author reminds us that "surveillance" in adult education is intrusive. Web-based courses with mandated and monitored chat rooms create an archival paper trail that dampens critical thinking. Moving everyone in a classroom into a circle of chairs "strips learners of a right to privacy." Requiring students to "journal" may be a teacher's means of exercising power over students' thoughts. Finally, "A central mechanism of disciplinary power is the examination"(p.132).

In efforts to develop students' capacity for critical reflection, Brookfield recommends Habermas' rules of discourse for adult discussion groups ­ that all relevant voices are heard and the best available arguments are accepted. Similar to negotiation in community action groups, adult education and democratic discussions should encourage tolerance of multiple ideas and contexts.

Brookfield presents Africentric perspectives on critical theory by including the writings of Outlaw, Karenga and West. In the chapter on "gendering criticality" he discusses and cites Lather, Chodorow, Gilligan, Luke, hooks, and Angela Davis. One goal is to help adult educators avoid paternalistic arrogance. The author believes that critical theory becomes accessible when it is linked to personal narratives, but warns that class discussions must avoid "convoluted language" which tends to exclude all students, not just minorities and women.

Students should be confronted with the injuries of dominant ideologies and understand that individual problems are produced by structural forces. Teachers must also recognize that classrooms are not power free zones. Educators may intervene in discussions in order to "illuminate power dynamics" (p. 355). Brookfield rejects the idea that everything that goes on in a course depends on the teaching and recognizes that teaching critically is "a pot hole strewn highway."

This is not a book to read when one is feeling rushed by teaching demands. It is a book to be savored, recalling our graduate school days when we questioned everything. We may have forgotten about questioning our own teaching. This heavily referenced 373-page book reminds us about our original pedagogical intentions.

Margaret K. Snooks
University of Houston-Clear Lake