Book reviews

The authors begin by defining the terms they will use and suggest that the lessons learned from studying this particular context will resonate with individuals in other settings where peoples from minority and majority cultures meet. The scope of the story they tell is indeed broad, an attempt to describe the experience of schooling sinee contact with European civilization among all peoples of the north, save those in the Soviet regions. They present physical and demographic information about Alaska, northern Canada (the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, northern Quebec, northern Labrador), Greenland, and northern Sweden, Norway, and Finland. From here, they describe the history of western schooling in each of these regions and draw out the similarities in terms ofpolitical, economic, and social relationships that occurred after contact. The intention is to provide sufficient context to understand the contemporary situation and issues. These are dealt with using the following broad headings: organizational structure of schools, locus of control, curriculum, language of instruction, and professional development of teachers. The final chapter of the book summarizes what they believe are the lessons learned and presents their emerging theories of education in multicultural societies.