Black Scars: A Rigorous Investigation of the Effects of Discrimination, with an Appendix on the Southern White,

J. A. Kunz & F. G. Soltys. 2007. Transformational Reminiscence. New York: Springer. The primary orientation of this book is to open a pathway to enhancing the lives of mature and older adults. The pathway is provided by methods of encouraging the telling and sharing of life stories, a process of enriching reminiscence. There is growing interest our life stories in present day society. Uncertainties and ambiguities of life transitions have been increased by people living longer and having more active lives in a changing society that has rapidly evolved from the industrial into the information era. Society has become more efficient but also less personal. This book prepares the reader to work with older adults to release and interpret their memories and life stories which will result in increased personal strengths. In the past, reminiscence by older adults was looked upon as an idle pre-occupation, a non-productive "killing of time". This book demonstrates that reminiscence is a productive activity which provides insights and releases the wisdom from accumulated experiences of long lives. There are many facets to memories and life stories. The eleven chapters of this book provide insights and instruction about methods to stimulate reminiscence and integrate memories. In addition to the two senior authors, there are eight other authors. They all review relevant literature and provide evidence that encourages individuals to engage in the processes of reminiscence and life review. The dominant professional background of the authors is in social work; five are from social work, two from counseling, and the remaining three are other specialized professionals, i.e., nursing, public health, and paraprofessional services. The processes of human development over the life span are complex. Various disciplines have developed different paradigms or models for explaining the processes and events that shape lives and how lives are interpreted. The book does not guide the reader in determining the validity of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Erikson's stages of life, or Cohen's four phases of the second half of life. These are the external templates that are placed on lives in contrast to the internal view of lives that individuals evolve and reveal in their reminiscence and life stories. We will learn much more in the years ahead from the interactions of research studies and the studies of therapeutic reminiscences. The book has a therapeutic orientation in helping older adults in a wide variety of contexts, "from working with fully oriented and functional older adults to working with the very frail, confused, and dying". The described methods of stimulating reminiscence range from one-on-one to group work. The title of the book, Transformational Reminiscence, is in itself a contribution. It implies that constructive transformations result from the conduct of reminiscence with the elderly. There is a wide range of contexts into which narrativ