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CHOICE Review

Familiarity with the genesis of the intelligence testing movement gives us historical insight into the continuing challenge of appropriately addressing individual needs of children in school, particularly those who are academically gifted or disabled. Although recent analyses have laid the blame on applied psychology for the demise of democratic education, Chapman presents the creating of intelligence tests in light of the Progressive Movement and the gigantic influx of immigrant children into the public schools. His presentation is evenhanded, respectfully allowing readers to come to their own conclusions about the basic motivations of those psychologists who promoted testing to sort students into various tracking arrangements. The analysis is written in a lively manner, spiced with descriptions of rivalries among major players in the story, such as Lewis Terman and Walter Lippmann. The arguments these two put forth can still be heard today among academics, special educators, policymakers, and parents. Chapman's book, therefore, is a most useful resource for enlightened decision making. A good acquisition for libraries serving graduate students, upper-division undergraduates, and general readers. -R. F. Subotnik, Hunter College, CUNY