Jerrell Cassady is a professor of psychology in the School of Education at Ball State University. In this collection of papers, he proposes to create a discipline of literature describing "academic anxiety" a term not commonly used in scholarly research, but one he contends should be used to describe very real conditions that affect numerous groups within the educational system. The papers presented describe and analyze the condition and how it affects various subpopulations of students: minorities, students with learning disabilities, gifted students, etc. It also looks at anxieties tied to specific fields of study, such as science and foreign languages. The book offers an excellent jumping-off point for discussions about this psychological malady and how it should be treated in future educational research. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)