Having been exposed lately to too many nearly helpful books, articles, papers, and lectures on service-learning (the formal connection between students' classroom learning and their community volunteering), I approached Building Partnerships for Service-Learning with somewhat low expectations. My anticipation was not heightened by my initial sniffing around in the book, as I noted that many of the contributing authors are administrators, not active faculty-which in my experience can signal a concentration on firm but less-than-practical directives. (But I was wrong: all of the contributors, I soon realized, clearly have walked the walk, as well as talked the talk.) Also, I noted that the first chapter, though well-written by editor Barbara Jacoby and quite thorough, is a bit dry for my taste, displaying more lists of stages and principles than I initially found appealing. (Again, I was wrong: in context, this chapter is quite helpful; and the final chapter, also by Jacoby-"Building Service-Learning Partnerships for the Future"--is anything but dry.)

As I settled in to read the book, I became increasingly absorbed and actually excited. I was stimulated to think with and beyond these authors about possibilities for improving service-learning and in fact for improving civic society, not only in our local community, but also (one must dream!) in the wider world. Jacoby's book builds from initial chapters on service-learning fundamentals and developing theory and practice, to excellent later chapters on international service-learning and the strong interconnections between this kind of academically activated volunteerism and civic renewal.

Each of the book's fifteen chapters is carefully constructed and convincing, expanding upon preceding chapters to more strongly make the case that colleges and universities need to establish partnerships with community organizations-yes, even multi-national corporations-for the twin and noble purposes of enriching students' learning, and improving active citizenship and civic organization. One chapter's subheading, "Moving from Rhetoric to Reality: Putting Principles to Work," could in fact serve as a subtitle for the book itself. The authors' principles are clearly and convincingly set forth, and their chapters' "how to" parts are really meaty and juicy. They give us sound, sensible, clear and detailed advice; for example, Sherril B. Gelmon's chapter on assessment, that bugaboo of academe, is by itself worth the price of the book. Each chapter is, in fact, so replete with practical suggestions and various case studies that even over-extended teachers at under-funded institutions will, I think, come to believe that the book's premises can be realized.

Margaret J. Downes,
UNC Asheville