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Pointedly broad-gauged in scope, this resource covers the philosophical thought of the United States and Canada from 1860 to 1960, boasting an impressive listing of well over 1000 entries (varying in length from 500 to 4000 words) contributed by some 500 authors. The term philosopher is employed somewhat loosely, if erratically, to include intellectuals residing outside the confined abode of philosophy and working in the fields of environmentalism, the arts, pedagogy, economics, linguistics, etc. Small wonder, then, that the Dictionary --admittedly a daunting enterprise--takes on the appearance of a veritable bric-a-brac of intellectual flashes culled from almost as many disciplines as there are entries. The lack of sustained focus on philosophy in a narrower sense is essentially a drawback, and general editor Shook (philosophy, Oklahoma State Univ.) acknowledges what is, in this reviewer's opinion, an unnecessary all-inclusiveness in the introduction, where he states that the work's virtue "lies in its wider historical breadth rather than its analytic breadth." Two especially useful features are the bibliography and "Further Reading" lists appended to each entry. It is also praiseworthy that the work seeks to countervail deep-seated prejudices by heavily representing women and minorities. This, however, renders it vulnerable to the criticism that, for the sake of diversity, it accommodates individuals of no decided philosophical talents to the exclusion of others more worthy of representation. Bottom Line Without a doubt, this is a product of painstaking scholarship and great collaborative efforts. However, one is struck by its procrustean attempt to bring all of American intellectual life under the rubric of philosophy. Recommended for academic libraries; an optional purchase for public libraries. [Also new from Thoemmes is the Bibliography of Modern American Philosophy , 3 vols. ISBN 1-84371-133-8. $495.--Ed.]--Edin Hadzic, Princeton Univ., NJ