once thought was black and wh ite is really shades of gray. I

have tried to appropriately inte grate rational psychopharma­co logy with th er ap y in m an y o ut pa t ien t setti ngs . Dr.Kut cher's book help s fu rthe r clarify the previously describ edshades of gray. It is an extremely infor mative, enjoyable, andvaluable resou rce written in a pragmatic manner. Th is boo ksh ould be o n the sh elf of ever y practi cing child andadolescent psychiatrist.

Sander M . Weckstein , M.D.Traverse C ity, MI

School Violence Intervention : A Practical Handbook.Edited by Arnold P. Goldstein. Ph.D.. and Jane Close Conoley.Ph.D. New York: GuilfOrd Press, /997. 509 pp.. $55.00 (bard­cover).

Just as school was letting out for the sum mer, I had theopportunity to review th is book. I had been mulling over thepast year and realized some of my worst qu andaries wererelated to the issue of school violence and safety. As a con­sultanr at th e local mental health cente r, I have been treatingmore victims and perpetrator s, have struggled with advisingtheir therapis ts, and have listened to teachers and parents whoare concerned and wo rried about this growing trend. All ofthis is happen ing in the midst of a "zero tolerance" poli cy form isb ehavior in the local schoo ls a nd an em phasis o nimproving ed ucatio nal outcomes. The issues I have enco un­tered have gone beyond th e typical "psychiatr ic problems."

This book atte mpts to address the issues of school vio­lence, with an emphasis on ways of cout rolling and reducingth e violen ce. Fro m th e beginn ing, the vario us aut ho rsemphasize th e need to view scho ol violence as a reflection ofthe societal trend of increased violence and aggression as arecurring feature of life in the Unite d States. Furthermo re,schoo l violence is a complex issue with multiple causes. T heynot e that until the se facto rs arc accepted an d understood,appropriate inte rventions canno t really take place.

T he four main sect ions include di scu ssions of thepr actitioners' perspectives, student-oriented intervent ions ,schoo l-o riented intervent ions, an d system-o rie nted inter­ventions. Most helpful are the histo rical perspective present edand the emphasis on th e impo rta nce of collabo ration withthe chi ld , fami ly, community, and co mm uni ty agencies indealing with th is problem. The cha pter titl ed "T he Low­Aggression C lassroom: A Teacher's View" illustrates how aneducator would "create a community of learn ers," includes ad iscussion of home- school collaboration, and explains theimpo rtance of teachers being dedicated to designing ways forparent s to help their child. T hro ugho ut the book, examples

J . AM. ACA D . C H I l. D AI H l l.ESC. P S YCHIATRY, ,\ 7: 1 , JA N U A RY 19 'JH

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of such inte rventions are given that could be very helpful forth e pract it ioner or cons ultant .

One of the most impo rta nt tho ughts reiterated th roughoutth e book is that schoo l safety is part of the fo rmula fo rexcellence in educat ion and improvi ng educatio nal outcomes.A safe schoo l is described as one that not only has an absenceof crim e and violence, but also includes facto rs that allow forpsycholog ical safety and developmental growth . In thi senvironment all child ren will have the oppo rtunity to learn asmuch as possibl e. T herefo re, schoo l safety need s to bein cluded in the co ntext o f ongoing schoo l reforms. Toacco mp lish th is. it is suggested that all members of the com­munity need to wor k together.

Although this boo k is long and some information isrepeated , [ liked it and would recommend it to anyo ne whois concerned abo ut the ed ucatio n of American child ren. Itsho uld appea l to child psychiatr ists who consult wit h com­muni ty agenci es and gives a good argume nt for all concernedpart ies to beco me involved at the policymaking level. I hop ethat som e of us are involved and others will com e forward.

Kaye McGinty, M.D.Assistant Professor of Psych iatr y

East Carolina University School of Med icineGreenville, NC

C hild Psychopathology. Edited by Eric j. Mashand Russell A.Barkley. New York: The GuilfOrd Press, /996. 60/ pp.. $65.00(hardcover).

Recogn izin g th e rapid expa nsio n of resea rch in devel­opmenta l psychopath ology over the past two decades, theedito rs of this book have brought together a stellar group ofcon tributo rs, primar ily psych ologist s, to att empt to makesome sense of th is rapidly evolving field. T heir stat ed goal forthis ed ited volume is to summa rize in a comprehe nsive andtimel y manner the essence of the develop mental psychopath­ology of a number of diso rders. Each review chapter add ressesthe current state of scient ifically acquired knowledge about adisorder as well as the existi ng theoretical and conceptu almodels th at have been proposed . The to pics cove red arebroad. incl ud ing developmental and learning d iso rders,behavi oral problems. psych iatr ic disord ers, and risk facto rssuch as abuse, neon atal and early infan cy stressors, and med­ical illnesses.

Each chapter is organized aro und the questions posed bythe editors, which include a definition of the d iso rder, ah istorical pers pective, diagn ostic cr iteria when applicab le,ep idemio logy. developmental co urse, co rno rb idi ry, and acritical review of pot ential causes, both the more scien tifically

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