Alain-G. Gagnon's compilation Quebec: State and Society has been a very popular staple of political science course syllabi over the past two decades. Now in its third edition, Gagnon has compiled a selection of twenty-two original articles by leading scholars in the social sciences to examine the diverse facets of modern Quebec society and politics. English-speaking students will benefit greatly from the fact that fifteen of the essays have been translated from the original French, which will broaden their exposure to top-level francophone scholarship (although in some cases the translation is imprecise and contains a number of Gallicisms). This collection includes some extremely strong contributions, and a diverse array of perspectives on modern Quebec. Yet in other respects, particularly in terms of the overall structure of the book, it suffers from some serious weaknesses that might make it of questionable suitability for teaching purposes.

This edition of Quebec: State and Society begins with a very brief introduction to the reader. Indeed, at a mere three pages in length, it barely serves to introduce the topics of each chapter, and certainly does little to place these works within the broader framework of the literature in their respective fields. The contributors' essays are then grouped into five sections. The first is oriented around the theme of memory, identity and pluralism, including chapters on the different historical narratives in Quebec, conceptions of identity, models of pluralism and Quebec's relations with its indigenous peoples. A second unit looks at questions of governance, ranging from constitutional politics to neo-corporatism, the Quebec bureaucracy and economic management. The following section examines political parties and social movements. Strongly inspired by the massive protests in Quebec City surrounding the Summit of the Americas in 2001, the papers in this third grouping look not only at anti-globalization movements, but also at labour unionism, women and political parties. The fourth section turns to the practicalities of dealing with pluralism in Quebec, with papers on cultural policies, education and language issues. Finally, the book concludes with a series of studies of Quebec in a globalizing world, with articles examining Quebec's international connections, both political and economic.

The internal structure of these groupings is somewhat problematic. For example, Dimitrios Karmis' skilful analysis of different models of state responses to pluralism would be a natural fit for the fourth section on issues of Education, Language and Immigration, and a useful counterpoint to the article by Alain-G. Gagnon and Raffaele Iacovino on interculturalism, rather than being placed with the more philosophical papers on the narratives of Quebec identity of the first section. Likewise, a very strong article by Brian Tanguay concerning the health of Quebec's political party system is lumped together with social movements, rather than placed with articles on governance. Articles concerning the state of Quebec's economy are split between the sections on governance and globalization, when many natural linkages between them could be drawn. Indeed, the second edition of this book had contained a full section dedicated to economic issues. One of the greatest flaws of this collection is the failure to provide introductions to each section of the book that would outline the connections between the articles, and situate them within their respective fields of scholarship.

While one can appreciate Gagnon's likely desire to cover as much ground as possible in this reader, it is disappointing to see the lack of contrasting perspectives on individual issues in modern Quebec society in this selection of readings. Rather than choosing articles that adopt differing angles on a given topic, his chosen authors appear to be writing in isolation from each other, each the sole author for their given area of expertise. With the lack of introductions, students and other readers will not be aware of alternate perspectives on these issues. This one-sided perspective is particularly glaring in the case of articles contributed by Gagnon himself. His article on the constitutional relations between Quebec and Canada repeats many well-worn and highly contestable allegations about the systematic domination of Quebec by the federal government, ranging from the usual accusations that Trudeau “isolated Quebec” (139) in 1982, passing a constitution that “denied Quebec a central place in the Canadian federation”(140), and chalking the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord up to “provincial elections of Manitoba, New Brunswick and Newfoundland [that] provided a platform for leaders to appeal to anti-Quebec sentiments” (141). His article on interculturalism is essentially a triumphalist piece on Quebec's approach to pluralism, while simultaneously decrying the failure of Canadian multiculturalism.

The reader does contain some very strong contributions. In addition to the Karmis and Tanguay articles, particularly noteworthy are Jocelyn Maclure's analysis of Quebec identity narratives and Garth Stevenson's analysis of the evolution of the Anglophone community of Quebec, both of which come from their recent book-length treatments of these subjects. Marie McAndrew's work on the challenges faced by Quebec's education system in adapting to post-Bill 101 diversity continues her solid scholarship on how Quebec's institutions have actually adapted to pluralism on the ground, rather than at the theoretical level of political discourse. Luc Turgeon's article on the interpretations of Quebec's historical trajectories provides a very useful framework for analyzing schools of scholarship in Quebec. Other articles, while topical in the short-term, are likely to rapidly lose their salience, particularly the contribution by Christian Rouillard on the 1999 reforms to the management of the Quebec bureaucracy, and Marc Lemire's article on anti-globalization social movements, which was clearly written prior to the chill on massive anti-globalization protests that followed the attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001.

Overall, this collection, like many others, has a number of strong contributions and some weaker ones. While these stronger articles will prove to be very useful in a classroom context, there will be an onus on instructors to situate these pieces within the broader context of current scholarship. Many readers will take issue with the nationalistic overtones of the articles on Quebec's place in Canadian federation, which are not counter-balanced by a federalist perspective. Lacking introductions and a list of supplemental readings, as a teaching resource the third edition of Quebec: State and Society is only of marginally more utility than hand-picked reading packages. It is, however, a useful primer on some of the exciting new scholarship underway on modern Quebec society.