{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022265625, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.45088161209068, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Nation, Ideas and Identities: Essays in Honour of Ramsay Cook ed. by Michael D. Behiels and Marcel Martel (review)

Historians of education will be interested in this book because of its examination of postwar child psychologists in the classroom, and, in particular, the lukewarm (even hostile) reception they got from teachers. The chapter 'Constructing Normal Citizens? Psychology in Postwar Schools' will also interest social historians generally because it provides an excellent example of how social regulation worked when professional psychologists plied their trade in the arena of public education. Gleason demonstrates effectively that teachers and parents sometimes refused to comply with the psychologists' advice about what was 'normal' or ideal, and she gives voice to their concerns. Who were these psychologists? Gleason answers that question throughout her study by exploring the career contributions of several prominent postwar psychologists, including Samuel Laycock, William Blatz, and Jack Griffin. The irony of three childless bachelors advising parents on ideal child rearing techniques was not lost on postwar audiences, and Gleason observes that the ease with which these individuals deflected criticism is only further proof 'of the confidence postwar psychologists had in their expertise and social power.' By paying attention to individual psychologists, Gleason helps the reader to identify a previously unexamined cast of players who helped to set postwar society's definitions about what was 'normal' and socially acceptable for individuals, families, and communities. We know that conformity to certain prescribed behaviours was a familiar script in postwar society. However, as historians we have too often settled for generalizations about 'experts' and 'opinion makers,' assuming that they somehow colluded with 'the state' to impose their ideals and norms on society, albeit with varying degrees of success. Here, Gleason has turned the spotlight on one particular subset of those players to examine how they brought their ideas to centre stage. Her argument is coherent and forceful when she asserts that 'psychological discourse was dearly not a neutral force; it could be used to justify concepts of proper socialization held by the society's opinion makers.' This book belongs on the reading list for students of the postwar period who want to understand how the pressure to conform was created and how compliance to those rigid norms was packaged for postwar consumers of advice. LINDA M. AMBROSE Laurentian University