The increasing popularity of Lev Vygotsky, and the sociohistorical, sociocultural school of psychology with which he is associated, brings with it a debate about the enterprise of psychology itself--its object of study, its method, its practicality. Are Vygotsky's contributions limited to a reformulation of Western psychology or do they offer--in his words--"a tool and result" for the practice of a new developmental, educational and clinical psychology?

In Lev Vygotsky, Fred Newman and Lois Holzman argue that Vygotsky's discovery of the Zone of Proximal Development allows us to see human beings as "revolutionary activists" and detail the implications of revolutionary activity for education, psychopathology and "everyday life." In chapters on learning and development, thinking and speaking, and play, the authors combine discussions of Vygotsky's empirical work, his examination of method, and cntemporary research in the Vygotskian tradition, including their own. Provocative yet accessible, Lev Vygotsky is an introductory text suitable for undergraduates.