The Sound of a Silver Horn: Reclaiming the Heroism in Contemporary Women's Lives.

The Sound of a Silver Horn: Reclaiming the Heroism in Contemporary Women's Lives Kathleen Noble New York, Fawcett Columbine, 1994, 233 pages.

In The Sound of a Silver Horn, Kathleen Noble's objectives are to present an image of a female hero to facilitate women's thinking about their lives in an empowering fashion and to create a model of psychological and spiritual well-being in which women both value and nurture their individuality and the community as a whole--in short, to create our own mythology. The two objectives are woven together as Noble presents, in the framework of an heroic quest, case studies of women who come to grips with pain and adversity in their lives and emerge as vital and courageous individuals committed to crafting a caring society and becoming allies for one another. The author's objectives are important and valid. They offer a powerful metaphor for women's self-realization which is focused on the depth of strength and caring which women draw on in living their lives, a metaphor which is far more positive in its focus than are many views of women's development. Kathleen Noble is eminently qualified to write such a book. Her academic background in counseling psychology and women's studies and her own courageous quest for identity and self-fulfillment are drawn on in her writing, resulting in a well-informed and compelling work.

The book's outstanding qualities include the uniquely female model for heroism which potentiates the shedding of the fairy tale heroine image of dependence on males for rescue and fulfillment in favor of personal courage, meaning, strength, and integrity in the definition of a woman's life. This model for a contemporary female hero encompasses all cultures and is developed effectively through the stories of the author's and other women's lives which exemplify the inner strength, depth of thought, and commitment to truth devoted to overcoming pain and adversity. The women emerge as vital and courageous, committed to crafting a caring society and becoming allies and mentors to other women.

The book is both academically rigorous and literary, a rare and worthy accomplishment. It is written sensitively and artistically. The language of mythology is woven into the text and used to describe the stages of a woman's quest. The potency of the language makes the journey of discovery mapped out in the book all the more forceful. This is a book to be read by all women but most certainly by any who are concerned with optimizing the development of girls and young women. It offers a new and important way of conceptualizing women's development. The book could be used with older adolescents to explore issues of women's identity and development and in gifted program components aimed at affective development. The book's content is consistent with Barbara Kerr's (1994) revised definition of female achievement which stresses "being all that one can be, according to her deeply-held values" (p. xi). The book also is consonant with current conceptions of intelligence and development which value the contribution of emotion and intrapersonal understanding to human potential (e.g., Damasio, 1994; Gardner, 1983; Goleman, 1995). It is a timely contributor to informing how we educate girls and young women.

REFERENCES

Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' error. Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Avon Books.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. The theory of multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam

Kerr, B. A. (1994). Smart girls two: A new psychology of girls, women, and guidance. Dayton, OH: Ohio Psychology Press.

Reviewed by Marion Porath, Assistant Professor in Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia and a Contributing Editor of the Roeper Review.