jhbs441_05_Bookrev.qxp 12/19/07 2:27 AM Page 77 Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 44(1), 77 Winter 2008 Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jhbs.20300 © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. BOOK REVIEWS Conrad M. Arensberg and Solon T. Kimball. Family and Community in Ireland. (Third edition, with a new introduction by Anne Byrne, Ricca Edmondson, and Tony Varley.) Ennis, Ireland: CLASP Press, 2001. 101 ϩ 417 pp. £26 (cloth). ISBN 1-900-545-13-6. Sociologists of the National University of Ireland, Galway, have done a service to the anthropological and sociological communities by reprinting this facsimile of a classic long out of print. The work was part of a wider Harvard Irish Study, carried out from 1931–1936; it became a classic for both its data and their interpretation, and its methods. The authors of the new introduction have done considerable research to place it in its historical context, describing how the study originated in Lloyd Warner’s program of work and how it related to the other parts of the Irish Study, and showing the process of the negotiation needed to establish access and to choose a particular community to study. It is also placed in the theo- retical context of the time, and the contemporary meanings it had are related to that. It is sug- gested that Arensberg and Kimball’s version of functionalism, and their aim of producing a case study to contribute to an objective worldwide classification of societies, with the termi- nology they used to describe them, did not have the significance later imputed to them; some modern interpretations and critical comments have rested on misunderstandings due to lack of knowledge of the intellectual setting. Byrne, Edmondson, and Varley show, too, how the work has been interpreted and used by Irish authors in relation to Irish concerns. The study’s validity as a benchmark of the traditional, with which the modern can be contrasted, has been hotly debated; arguments in this debate are briefly reviewed. The book is nicely produced, in- cluding numbers of historic photographs. The new introduction is a model of how past work can usefully be placed in its histori- cal context, and adds to this important original text case-study material of wider interest to the historian of social science. Social science research libraries will want a copy of this book. Reviewed by JENNIFER PLATT, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SN, England. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 44(1), 77–79 Winter 2008 Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jhbs.20291 © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Rodney R. Baker and Wade E. Pickren. Psychology and the Department of Veterans Affairs: A Historical Analysis of Training, Research, Practice, and Advocacy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2007. 184 pp. $59 (cloth). ISBN 1-59147-453-1. The paucity of qualified personnel to treat the overwhelming number of World War II casualties led to the large-scale federal funding of training, research, and practice in the field of mental health. Specifically, it led to the astounding growth of clinical psychology. This volume describes this growth in psychological training, research, practice, and advocacy activity 77 jhbs441_05_Bookrev.qxp 12/19/07 2:27 AM Page 78 78 BOOK REVIEWS within the VA from 1946–1988, and highlights the role of the VA in influencing the training, accreditation, and credentialing of psychologists and the large-scale employment of psychol- ogists during this time. The volume begins with an introduction to the early history of Veterans Affairs, from its establishment to the GI Bill of Rights of 1944 (providing educa- tional and vocational rehabilitation opportunities to veterans) and to Public Law 79-293, cre- ating the Department of Medicine and Surgery within the VA in 1946 that would house the Neuropsychiatry Division and the Clinical Psychology Section and that would provide phys- ical and mental health care. The first two chapters focus on the need for large-scale health care professionals to treat the millions of demobilized soldiers returning from World War II and the resulting impetus for training guidelines for clinical psychologists. Although individual and organizational attempts to establish training guidelines had existed for a couple of decades prior to the war, the war pro- vided the stimulus for the VA (and PHS) to pressure the APA for the creation, accreditation, and expansion of graduate training programs in clinical psychology. Such programs began in 1946, and the second chapter focuses on how the VA advocated for continued funding for such training throughout the 1970s and 1980s, how such training changed from non-funded to stipend training, and how the VA began funding post-doctoral training in 1991. The next two chapters focus on the research contributions of VA psychologists during the 1950s and 1960s. Specifically, chapter three describes a unique VA research innovation—the cooperative study—involving multiple hospitals (and large subject pools) working on a com- mon research protocol that would lead to better patient care. The chapter discusses some of the most important collaborative studies conducted by the VA, including programs on prefrontal lobotomy, psychopharmacology, tuberculosis treatments, treatment setting evaluations, and schizophrenia and drug addiction treatments. The success of such cooperative studies was such that the NIMH also began conducting them and they have now become standard practice. Chapter 4 describes the work of the two most active local VA hospital research programs: the Palo Alto VA hospital in California and the Perry Point VA hospital in Maryland. Not only did psychologists provide the methodological and statistical skills psychiatrists lacked, but the em- phasis on research also served to attract high-caliber psychologists to the VA. Chapter 5 describes some of the treatment programs provided from the mid 1940s to late 1980s in an attempt to prevent hospitalization, encourage early discharge when that was not possible, and address chronic mental illness among veterans. The most important develop- ments in this direction were the creation of mental hygiene clinics and vocational rehabilita- tion programs that decreased dependency on the hospital and allowed large numbers of patients to be treated through group therapy. The theoretical shift in orientation from psycho- dynamic to behavioral treatments was also witnessed during this time period. Chapter 6 addresses the VA’s, the APA Division 18’s, and the Association of VA Chief Psychologists’ (AVACP) attempts to define and protect the practice of psychology during the 40 years following World War II. During the first two decades, the emphasis rested on defin- ing and legitimizing the practice of psychology through training and accreditation efforts. The next two decades incorporated attempts to provide administrative training for new chiefs of psychology, establish medical staff membership, and obtain prescription privileges and re- imbursement for psychological services. The concluding seventh chapter describes recent events in the history of the VA. Organi- zational changes in the 1990s led to a consolidation of professional services that grouped psy- chiatry and psychology into a single management unit (mental health services). This resulted in a decrease in the number of independent psychology services and chief of psychology po- sitions (in favor of psychiatry), and spurred leadership conferences sponsored by the APA and JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES DOI: 10.1002/jhbs jhbs441_05_Bookrev.qxp 12/19/07 2:27 AM Page 79 BOOK REVIEWS 79 the Association of VA Psychologist Leaders (formerly the AVACP). The late 1990s saw the creation of Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers, and the 2005 Mental Health Strategic Plan is also expected to increase funding and the number of psychologists in- volved in mental health programs. A timeline of significant events in VA psychology and a list of key appointments appear in an appendix. This volume fills a significant gap in our knowledge of the relationship between the fed- eral government—in this case, the VA—and the field of psychology. It is particularly im- pressive that the authors—Baker, VA psychologist for over 35 years, and Pickren, former Director of the American Psychological Association Archives—were able to locate, secure, and use so many primary materials from the VA, and we are very fortunate that they are archived at AHAP and APA for future scholars to study. This volume is an invaluable source, both as a history in itself as well as a starting point for other scholars interested in pursuing more detailed and analytical research on various aspects of the VA and psychology. It would have been very helpful to see many more citations for the valuable information presented, as it was often difficult to determine the source of the authors’ claims (e.g., personal experience, colleagues’ personal experiences as cited in oral histories, VA published or unpublished ma- terial, or other published or archival material). Some chapters also had much more detail than seemed necessary or appropriate given the general nature of the volume. Writing govern- mental history, however, is challenging given the lack of material available or its unavailabil- ity to non-governmental communities. This volume should be of great value to various target groups. The most obvious one is the community of historians of psychology, which is focusing less and less on traditional, turn-of-the-century psychological research and focusing more on mid-century research and branching out to non-academic psychology. In addition, professionals and graduate students of clinically related and public health fields will also find this volume valuable in its histori- cal portrayal of the research, treatment, and advocacy of which they are currently a part. As the largest employer of psychologists in the United States, the history of the role of the VA in the promotion of psychological training, research, and practice is not only timely but absolutely necessary.