Understanding Curriculum: Fifth Printing

Behold the bible of (US) curriculum discourse. Each chapter tells the story of curriculum from a particular perspective--with 15 chapters and over 850 pages, Pinar et al to some degree survey most of what has been written in the field since its inception in the 1820s and beyond. A good 230 pages are dedicated to the history of curriculum studies, with the rest describing contemporary curriculum perspectives: political, racial, gender, phenomenological, poststructuralist/deconstructed/postmodern, auto/biographical, aesthetic, theological, institutionalized, international. Certainly it could use an update (contemporary for Pinar as of this edition is 1980-1994, and since, there have been some exciting new works in curriculum: see, the "mythopoetic" perspective, Expanding Curriculum Research and Understanding: A Mytho-Poetic Perspective, 2000 Peter Lang, and the 2008 Pedagogies of the Imagination, Springer). Also, it's a bit tedious (i.e.: encyclopedic in nature, "synoptic"), and at times, the tone is a bit overdone... I have particular issues with the Phenomenology section; I do not think Pinar et al truly understand phenomenology, from their description... (and who can blame them, if they see Van Mannen-ugh-as the epitome of phenomenology in education...) i.e.: Phenomenology "can seem mystical, aspiring to a truth that seems religious in nature, accessible only to those who believe" --this as a way to *introduce* phenomenology, *before* even saying what it is! ... Pinar et al. almost seem to be excusing themselves for including such an 'esoteric' approach (when in fact it's quite rigorous and mainstream in contemporary philosophy...!) Certainly has its flaws, but undoubtedly is still the only survey of its scope, and a must-have of any student of curriculum/education.