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Indigenous communities. This gatekeeping function is a result of cultural appropriations and misrepresentations in both academic and New Age commercial literature. This position reflects concepts articulated in the theoretical school of social constructivism. In my own work, I attempt to bring shamanism into a conceptual discussion (Kenny, 1989) to learn from the experiences of tribal societies without appropriating indigenous knowledge and taking it out of context. This work has been guided by Native elders and healers since I began my studies in 1976. And most Indigenous scholars follow this protocol. As early as 1988 the topic of shamans was explored in The Arts in Psychotherapy in a special issue entitled “The Creative Arts Therapist as Shaman: Reality or Romance?” Boyce-Tillman does not include this material in her book. In the next section Boyce-Tillman shows her enthusiasm for the New Age Movement and focuses on the concept of consciousness. She describes some of the history of the movement and how music is often included in New Age practices and approaches. She regards the New Age Movement as a gentle revolution, a reaction to the elitism of Western spirituality and classical music, a movement that can bring music and an inclusive spiritual feeling back to the people. She considers the Anthroposophical tradition, a very important influence on music therapy, as representative of the New Age philosophy. Though some music therapists feel comfortable being associated with the New Age Movement, many who are attempting to establish clear borders between the professional identity of the music therapist and the New Age practitioner, do not. One can study some of the strong opposition to New Age music and its claims to heal, by perusing Lisa and Joseph Summer’s book, Music: A New Age Elixir. In the chapter on music therapy, Boyce–Tillman relies heavily on the work of David Aldridge and Lesley Bunt, which makes sense. Both Aldridge and Bunt have contributed greatly to our literature in music therapy. However, this portrayal of music therapy omits many other works of music therapists outside of Britain, who are particularly interested in her topic. An integration of this literature would have helped to connect the dots in the book and weave the important webs between disciplines needed for compelling interdisciplinary arguments. Boyce–Tillman has some promising ideas. And certainly she adds her words, her thoughts, and beliefs to the continuing questions about the compatibility between “healing” and “therapy”. Sometimes we need scholars outside of our creative arts therapies to stimulate our thinking on this topic. The strength of the book is that it has the potential to encourage our own discourse by giving us an oppor-

tunity to compare and contrast our own ideas about music therapy with at least one New Age practitioner. Her chapter on her own Western tradition is excellent and I found myself underlining many sentences and marking many of her references. Her efforts to integrate ancient and modern healing systems are not particularly successful to me. However, we do need to continue to try to make these comparisons and learn from the past. In the wake of colonization and the devastation of so many Indigenous societies, some of us are compelled to reinstate and renew ancient concepts, if not practices, that were left behind. Boyce–Tillman makes the point that the Western musical tradition has become an elite tradition instead of a community tradition accessible to all community members. In tribal societies community participation in musical activities was the norm. And finally, we do need to explore the overlap between music therapy and the New Age Movement because the New Age is here to stay. Carolyn Kenny Faculty of Education Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada

References Bonny, H. (1975). Music and consciousness. Journal of Music Therapy, 12, 121–135. Gergen, P. L., & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: a treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Kenny, C. B. (1995). Listening, playing, creating: essays on the power of sound. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Kenny, C. B. (1989). The field of play: a guide to the theory and practice of music therapy. Atascadero, CA: Ridgeview Publishing Co. Kenny, C. B. (1982). The mythic artery: the magic of music therapy. Atascadero, CA: Ridgeview Publishing Co. McNiff, S. (1981). The arts and psychotherapy. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. Moreno, J. O. (1999). Acting your inner music: music therapy and psychodrama. St. Louis, MO: MMB. Summer, L., & J. Summer. (1996). Music: the New Age elixir. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. The Arts in Psychotherapy (1998). The creative arts therapist as shaman: reality or romance? (special issue), The Arts in Psychotherapy 15(4).

Contemporary Art Therapy with Adolescents Shirley Riley; Jessica Kingsley Pub. Ltd., London & Philadelphia, 1999, 285 pages, paperback, $26.95

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In her introduction Shirley Riley states that her general intention in Contemporary Art Therapy with Adolescents is to show helpful approaches to goaloriented treatment with adolescents. Cathy A. Malchiodi describes the book in her foreword as a compilation of Shirley Riley’s years of experience working with adolescents. It contains interesting ideas, summaries, and descriptions. Riley re-frames some concepts offering important new ways of approaching and evaluating treatment. She reminds us to take in the whole adolescent and his or her world experience rather than to simply view all behaviors and characteristics as pathology. Unfortunately, the book embeds much of the valuable information in choppy organization, contradicting statements, and subheadings that cut the book into overly small segments and highlight repetitive information. Riley begins in Chapter 1, “Integrating Developmental Theories with Art Expressions,” with a welldone review of the developmental theorists including an important focus on how we need to change our view of development as we see changes and increases in the issues that affect adolescents. She also begins to address concrete treatment issues like “The early alliance” (p. 39), “Handling proscribed therapy” (p. 47), “Confidentiality of the artwork” (p. 50), “Art therapy messages” (p. 51), and “Substance abuse and violence” (p. 65). In “Media” (p. 57), I expected to find a developmental approach and explanation of material usage. Instead, I found a description of what “should” be available; little of why certain materials work or do not work for this population. The ideas in “issues of gender and culture” (p. 34) continue in “Illustrations of male and female roles” (p. 61) and in “Gender defined individuation” (p. 63). Similarly, “The early alliance” (p. 39) continues three headings later in “Distancing, trust, and timing” (p. 44). These multiple subheadings and repetition of topics often confuse and distract the reader. Contemporary Art Therapy with Adolescents makes sweeping generalizations that are, at the least, poorly explained, and at times unfounded. Perhaps the generalization most frequently made regards adolescents and creativity. Riley posits repeatedly that adolescence is a time of heightened creativity. The idea of creativity is silently linked to “artistic” by proximity, “For example, the adolescent enters the most creative time of their lives: art therapy is based on the notion that when creativity is introduced into problem solving, the art can provide fresh viewpoints and excitement” (p. 38). The author does not clarify that creativity refers to the teen’s persona, not necessarily to his or her artistic activity. In fact, Howard Gardner in his 1980 book Artful Scribbles: The Significance of Children’s Drawings describes adolescence as a time when abilities to think in more com-

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plex and sophisticated ways come together. It is a period of heightened criticism that often shuts down the adolescent’s once spontaneous artmaking. Usually only the identified “artistically talented” move into the use of art for personal expression. Further, I would suggest that some contemporary issues also result in adolescents becoming less able to use art with ease. The many societal issues which impact today’s teens include severe deprivation. Riley focuses on societal issues and offers case examples of deprived youths. She does not cover how a therapist may successfully engage the many adolescents stunted by years of deprivation, increase self-criticism, and societal constraints. A frustrating contradiction occurs frequently. The author often alternates between statements against imposing therapists’ goals and directives and then offers examples where the therapist provides directives and has a specific goal for her client or group. I find this conflict running throughout the book, and see it as an interesting parallel process to the adolescent’s own developmental struggle. The conflicting desire for freedom and the need for structure often coexist. Meanwhile, Chapter 4 nicely illustrates two very different settings and how art therapy adjusts to each. The book’s fifth chapter (“Adolescents and Their Families”) suggests three valuable art directives that, again, contradict the support for nondirected work. Nonetheless, their inclusion supports the notion that settings and situations in which to employ each method exist. It is unfortunate that Riley does not highlight this point. Riley notes several times how the time factor has changed in contemporary treatment. Insurance does not allow for preventive treatment and most contact is crisis intervention. Yet, Riley repeatedly refers to the need for time to create a therapeutic alliance or to establish trust within a group. Only a small portion of one chapter focuses on hospitalized adolescents, comparatively little given the numbers of adolescents in inpatient and hospital-based programs where most crisis intervention occurs. Today, choosing who joins a group and refusing those who do not fit the group well is an unavailable luxury to many practitioners in a range of settings. Shirley Riley is at her best when she is attending to her own goal as stipulated in her introduction, to show helpful approaches to goal-oriented treatment. She also shines when relating her own years of experience as well as those of her supervisees. An example, found in Chapter 2, delineates a wonderful set of criteria indicating group cohesion. It is a helpful adjustment to more traditional evaluations as it really allows for the particularities of the adolescent population. Chapter 5 also describes single parent families and how many family dynamics change as a

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teen moves through adolescence. It sensitively addresses the struggles of the family to survive this period and great care has been taken to acknowledge each family member as an individual in the system and within the society. Throughout the book the attention given to society’s changes and the impact of new cultural issues on today’s adolescents is unique to the literature. As I finished the book, I found myself wishing the material was better organized and allowed for a cleaner flow. The title led me to expect a very up-tothe-minute look at art therapy and adolescents. What I believe this book can offer is one practitioner’s years of experience and observations—indeed a valuable resource. Attempts to broaden the scope of the book fall short and detract from the book’s overall impact. Gail Elkin–Scott, ATR-BC Private Practice New York, NY 10010, USA

Reference Gardner, H. (1980). Artful scribbles: the significance of children’s drawings. New York: Basic Books.

Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings Michael Bonesteel; Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York, 2000, 256 pages, 125 color illustrations; hardbound, $85 In April of 1973 a reclusive and impoverished old man died on Chicago’s north side and was later buried in a pauper’s grave. Now, almost 30 years later, Henry Darger is considered to be one of the giants of self-taught art whose works are in private and museum collections around the world. How does a man like Darger, who by all accounts was a crotchety and peculiar character who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, rise from obscurity to an international reputation as an artistic genius whose drawings sell for tens of thousands of dollars? Michael Bonesteel’s marvelous new book, Henry Darger: Art and Selected Writings attempts to tell this story. Darger lived a childhood straight out of Dickens. Born in 1892, his mother died in childbirth when he was four and the baby sister was given up for adoption. Four years later when his father’s health began to fail, little Henry was sent to live in a boys’ home and later still to the state Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children. After his father’s death in 1907, he ran from that place back to Chicago where he spent the

rest of his life working menial jobs in area hospitals, attending mass, and living alone in a rented room. But it’s in that room that the story takes an unexpected twist. After his death, his landlord and a neighbor set about the task of clearing out the accumulated debris that Darger had for decades stuffed into his tiny room. They were astonished to find, among the empty bottles and balls of twine, stacks of drawings and typed manuscript pages. As this material was studied (and be assured the research continues) it became clear that the bulk of the work comprised an enormous fantasy novel entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinean War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. Topping 15,000 typed pages with over 150 accompanying drawings (some measuring over two by nine feet), this book is considered to be one of the longest, single-author works of illustrated fiction ever created! Michael Bonesteel, a Chicago-area journalist, has spent over 20 years following Darger’s posthumous art career. Studying Darger seems to inspire obsessiveness as the voluminous details are sifted for clues to aid understanding. Because of his marginal lifestyle and self-imposed isolation, most of what is known about the life of this remarkable artist comes from the contents of his cluttered room which also held an autobiography, a diary, a journal of daily weather reports spanning 10 years, and scrapbooks of comics and news clippings. In addition to these original sources, much has been written about this man’s life ever since his work first came to the attention of the public in a 1977 exhibition. In the first chapter of this book, Bonesteel presents a carefully documented reconstruction of Darger’s life with particular attention to the creation of The Realms of the Unreal to help orient the reader for what is to follow. The remaining chapters (something on the order of 90% of the book) consist entirely of lengthy excerpts of text and illustrations from this major work along with selected samples from Darger’s other writings. The bombastic, rambling narrative style of The Realms of the Unreal is a curious mix of compelling and unsettling and it would certainly take a hearty individual to read the original from cover to cover. Darger owned the Frank L. Baum Oz books and these, along with works by Dickens, Stowe, Dante, and Verne, are thought to have been literary influences. This may account for the form but the content is something else all together. The saga focuses on the monumental battle between the evil empire of Glandelinia and the allied Christian nations of Calverinia, Angelinia, and Abbieannia over the issue of child slavery. The unlikely heroines of this epic are the seven nobly born, indescribably beautiful, and