Book review

The following book is reviewed.Disability, politics and the struggle for change Len barton 'Ed.', 2001 London: David Fulton Publishers 184 pp., ISBN 1 85346 809 6 £21.00     

Ethics at home: informed consent in your own backyard

Keying off of a “fully informed consent letter” that consists of the text of her original letter to participants interspersed with insights gained after‐the‐fact, the author explores ethical and institutional power issues that arose as she conducted a qualitative research study in her home institution – her own “backyard” – and offers a critical examination of the concept of “informed consent,” calling for a radical revision of the standard notions of research ethics that blur ethical sensibilities.     

Making Political Anger Possible: A Task for Civic Education

The article asks whether political anger has a legitimate place in a democracy, as this is a political system designed to resolve conflicts by peaceful negotiation. It distinguishes personal from social anger and political anger, to focus explicitly on the latter. It argues that both the feeling and expression of political anger are subject to normative constraints, often specific to social status and gender. The article examines arguments, including those of Seneca, in favour of an anger‐free society. It concludes, however, that a democracy cannot dispense with political anger, which has a vital role to play in protecting things of value. This role demands a civic education such that when democratic values are under threat citizens will not feel apathetic or simply fearful, but angry and possessed of a repertoire of ways of expressing democratic anger.     

Museums and the gifted

The integrative curriculum combines subject‐matter studies, mini‐courses, and long term projects which allows for individual differences and provides a qualitatively different instruction program for the gifted.