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ual chapters provide an excellent review of the current state of Chinese communication scholarship (chapters 1, 4, 6, 9, and 12 are particularly insightful and informative). Doobo Shim National University of Singapore Min-Sun Kim, NON-WESTERN PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN COMMUNICATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002; pp. 240, $59.95 hardcover, ISBN: 0761923500; $32.95 paper, ISBN: 0761923519. This book presents us with a comprehensive review of research detailing differences between Western and Non-Western approaches to the study and practice of self-concept, including a discussion of a variety of commonly used communicative traits and constructs. The author advances both pragmatic and epistemological reasons for challenging dominant communicative concerns that have been fashioned by Western perspectives. The author presents an argument for questioning the current hegemony of Western views on communication, citing work drawn from predominantly East Asian frameworks. The book begins with a thorough review of research on the cultural differences between independent and interdependent self-construals (chapters 1-3), with particular emphasis on the familiar work done by Triandis (e.g., 1989) and Markus and Kitayama (1991, 1998). It is argued that the creation and sustenance of self-systems necessarily reflects cultural backgrounds and the individualistic or collectivist belief system prevailing within that culture. The author argues that, just as Japan posed a "useful other" (pp. 28-29) for a critical examination of many fundamental assumptions underlying Western worldviews, further discussion of culturally different approaches to such issues may serve as a counterpoint for reexamining the ways in which we teach and do intercultural research. Throughout the text, the author contrasts the mechanistic (i.e., Western) model of self with a more fluid and organic construction of identity. The chapters challenge many of the prevailing Western understandings of interpersonal differences and provide the alternative view offered by our "useful other." The author highlights a range of constructs including communication apprehension (chapter 4), assertiveness and argumentativeness (chapter 5), conflict management style (chapter 6), cognitive consistency (chapter 7), attitude-behavior consistency (chapter 8), influence susceptibility and conformity (chapter 9), internal-external locus of control (chapter 10), deception (chapter 11), self-disclosure or attitudes regarding bragging (chapter 12), attitudes regarding silence (chapter 13), and communicative competence (chapter 14). In the remaining chapters, the author provides an argument for moving beyond cross-cultural comparisons and the delusion of a value-free approach to social science. The sources of the Western preference for dualism are described (chapter 15) and challenged (e.g., pp. 160-161). The book's argument is weakest in this area. This is particularly true in light of the author's own tendency to invoke dualistic explanations throughout the text (e.g., East/West, yin/yang). Fortunately, the subsequent discussion (chapter 16) of unidimensional and bidimensional approaches to cultural identity recalls the thread initially advanced in the earliest chapters and relocates the reader within the overarching theme of culturally different self-construal formation. The author concludes (chapter 17) with suggestions for future inquiry arguing that the communication field should become more culturally relevant and that cultural self-construals may offer us one way of tracing a recurrent theme of cultural relativity across a variety of constructs and theories. Overall, the author provides an important perspective on identity formation: an area of intercultural communication that offers distinct humanist appeal. The book is likely to prove very useful for scholars just beginning to engage these issues. It may be helpful for graduate courses in intercultural communication, and various chapters may be quite useful in teaching cultural variation within the interpersonal area. Intercultural communication scholarship does not always focus on the construction of cultural self-construals and interpersonal differences in communicative styles. However, the book's summation of this literature base has import for other culturally linked issues (e.g., stereotyping). This discussion may later be expanded to include issues such as identity negotiation (e.g., the influence of migration or assimilation on notions of self). Here, the formation of identity is posed as a fairly static version of self What are the implications for understanding identity change within a mechanistic versus an organic model? Despite the clarit)' of writing and full review of literature on interpersonal traits, the book does not venture much beyond description of cultural difference. However, such thorough reviews of extant literature may stimulate the thinking of those less familiar with this specific area of the intercullural communication field (e.g., interpersonal scholars). This may well lead to additional theoretical reform. One of the book's main problems may be its title and more general claims of import. The human communication here is really a highly social scientific approach and may not be as useful for scholars in other areas. For example, self-construals are offered as a potential "intervening variable" (p. 23) within intercultural communication, a phrase potentially anathema to cultural studies scholars. Similarly, the book's overview of nonWestern communicative worldviews is really more East Asian. There is little mention of other culttiral worldviews (e.g., Afrocentrism). Although the author adds a postscript (p. 189) that argues against a nation-based approach that merely surveys various cultural worldviews, the book does not provide evidence to support the

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contention that these views may be aggregated in a way that proves more useful than reductive. However, as a review of one area of cross-cultural research the book is both exhaustive and informative. And, as the author claims, such reviews are necessary to forming and refining substantive intercultural theory, Latira Winn Wayne State University REFERENCES Markus, H,, & Kitayama, S, (1991), Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Revieiv, 98, 224-252, Markus, H,, & Kitayama, S, (1998), The cultural psychology of personality,/ouma/ of Cross-CulturalPsychology 29, 63-87, Triandis, H, C, (1989), The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts, Psychobgical Review, 96, 506-520, William F, Eadie and Paul E, Nelson (Eds,), THE CHANCINC CONVERSATION IN AMERICA: LECTURES FROM THE SMITHSONIAN, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002; pp, 165, $72,95 hardcover, ISBN: 076191651; $36,95 paper, ISBN: 076191658X, Throughout our country's history talk in the public sphere has set the tone for democratic struggle and reform. Yet we have few books in our discipline that examine public discourse and the individual's voice therein carefully, artfully, and practically. The Changing Conversation in America edited by William F, Eadie and Paul E, Nelson fills a void in our scholarly banks by focusing on interpersonal, rhetorical, and mediated forms of communication in today's society. Through eight chapters written by well-known communication scholars, the book provides a compelling look at where and why our national conversations have gone awry. We can find a plenitude of examples of public communication that leave citizens weary from the battle of ideological warfare. It is to this condition that the authors take aim first by examining the critical and cultural underpinnings of our society and then by identifying mitigating forces that disrupt the opportunities for a meaningful, national discourse. This volume promises to interrogate the social, cultural, and political elements of American conversation. Although the task is mighty, the result is a succinct and accessible book that provides as many "how to" guidelines as it does examples and critical discussions. The desire to increase democratic decision making and participatory structures undergirds the authors' critiques and commentary for improved national conversations. The book is derived from a lecture series, "Conversation in America: Changing Rules, Hidden Dimensions," cosponsored by the National Communication Association and the Smithsonian Associates, a public education arm of the Smithsonian Institution, The chapters generally are no longer than 25 pages and stand alone beautifully, although they are brilliantly organized to provide a comprehensive look at the state of affairs of our public conversation. The concise nature of the authors' arguments along with the contemporary examples offered make this book interesting not only for those studying public communication but also for those wanting to actively affect the condition of community or societal conversation through dialogue. The authors suggest rules of engagement appropriate for grassroots organizers (e.g,, students and community members) as well as nuanced considerations for seasoned professionals (e,g,, activists, consultants, and journalists). With The Chan^ng Conversation in America, communication scholars and students have a succinct voice in our discipline highlighting public conversation and judgment (Barnett Pearce), the rhetorical legacy of the Declaration of Independence and its values on public communication today (Stephen Lucas), cultural dynamics of American talk (Donal Carbaugh), agency and identity in a changing America (Molefi Asante), the burgeoning role of interactive or computer mediated communication in public discourse (Everett Rogers and William Hart), television's influence on political dialogue (Roderick Hart, Jr,), and diversity in everyday communication styles (Julia Wood), In the tradition ofJohn Dewey, these authors show how democracy depends on collaborative approaches in discourse in order to address our country's problems and hopes. They point out the ethical and moral order of talk, intercultural considerations, the ability of new technology to address the demands of diversity, the injustices of oppression, the ideal of inclusion, the role of identity, and the need for participation to ensure a prospering democracy. If there is to be a critique of this book, it is that it overtly shies away from in-depth philosophical discussions. Instead, it hones in on the message that individuals and leaders have at their disposal the ethical resources and strategic tools they need to keep American conversation meaningful, dialogic, and inclusive in the 21st century. The editors are to be commended for compiling a book that takes seriously the idea that individuals, collective action, and institutional support together provide a model for the most promising opportunities for civic engagement, Spomajovanovic University of North Carolina, Greensboro