Choice Review

Weiss, a British academic, surveys the role of industrialization in the economic development of less developed countries since 1960. He reviews the statistical evidence, the different industrialization policies pursued by various national governments, and the chief competing theories of the process: the structuralist, which emphasizes government policies to reshape market forces; the radical, which is neo-Marxist and stresses class conflicts and modes of production; and the neoclassical, which advocates freeing market forces from restrictive governmental policy. He concludes that an eclectic set of policies with variations from one nation to another seems best and that there is still much unknown about the relationship between industrialization and development. Intended as a supplement to a text but not as a text itself, the book has lucid exposition, excellent organization, and an extensive bibliography. It is much more current than Robert B. Sutcliffe's Industry and Underdevelopment (1971), and has a broader and better-integrated view than such recent books as Robert H. Ballance, Jared A. Ansari, and Hans W. Singer's The International Economy and Industrial Development: The Impact of Trade and Investment on the Third World (CH, Apr '83), or America's New Competitors: The Challenge of the Newly Industrializing Countries, ed. by Thornton F. Bradshaw et al. (CH, Jun '88). Suitable as a reference for collegiate libraries serving juniors, seniors, and graduate students. -J. W. Nordyke, New Mexico State University