Click here to see a pdf file of the book cover, table of contents, contributor biographies, and introduction by Jeffrey A. Schaler.

Click here to purchase the book at Amazon.com. Click here to purchase the book through the publisher, Open Court.

Howard Gardner is most celebrated for his conception and development of the theory of Multiple Intelligences, which has revolutionized educational thinking. Gardner has also made outstanding original contributions to the study of leadership, creativity, child development, and humanly-fulfilling work.

Prior to Gardner's Frames of Mind (1983), there was little sustained theoretical opposition to the reigning paradigm of IQ, in which it is supposed that intelligence is a single concept known as 'g', exhibiting itself in scholastic attainment and detectable by a narrow range of puzzle-solving tests. Gardner transformed the discussion of intelligence and education by making a powerful case that there are several forms of intelligence, some of which express themselves in activities not traditionally considered academic.

In Creating Minds (1993), Gardner provoked a Gestalt switch in public understanding of creative genius, by analyzing the lives and achievements of seven diverse personalities from Einstein to Picasso, each of whom founded a new "system of meaning." With Project Zero, Gardner directed research into children's artistic development, yielding many controversial conclusions and providing new ideas for educators. Gardner's GoodWork Project is a broad empirical investigation of the experiences of professional workers in a range of occupations, seeking the conditions most conducive to work which is "good" both ethically and technically. His Changing Minds (2004) applied findings from cognitive psychology to explain how people's deep-rooted convictions can be changed.

All these and other topics are explored in this volume, by way of a debate between Gardner and his critics.

"Gardner is a force in psychology and education who deserves the full attention of both admirers and critics. I'm an admirer who believes that the concept of multiple intelligences serves as a heuristic scientific hypothesis, which moreover is in accord with contemporary brain science and genetics."

-EDWARD O. WILSON
Author of On Human Nature

"A lively and thoughtful presentation of Howard Gardner's ideas along with well considered criticisms of them by leading scholars."

-JEROME BRUNER
Author of Acts of Meaning

"Howard Gardner's work is astonishingly diverse, imaginative, occasionally improbable, always engaging--the kind that calls for conversations deep into the night over good brandy. Howard Gardner Under Fire is the next best thing, showing from many perspectives how rich a dialogue he has provoked.

-CHARLES MURRAY
Co-author of The Bell Curve: Ingelligence and Class Structure in American Life

"This examination of Gardner's wide-ranging and influential ideas provides a dazzling intellectual banquet."

-MINDY KORNHABER
Co-author of Multiple Intelligences: Best Ideas from Research and Practice

"Howard Gardner Under Fire offers a ringside seat at a lively -- and surprisingly constructive -- dialogue between one of today’s leading minds and several thoughtful critics. Beyond the engrossing give-and-take, this volume represents the best overview anywhere of Gardner’s intellectual works, the remarkable trajectory of a genuinely creative mind dedicated to good work."

--DANIEL GOLEMAN
Author of Social Intelligence

Click here to read a review of Howard Gardner Under Fire: The Rebel Psychologist Faces His Critics by Arthur Jensen in
Intelligence, 36,pp. 96-97 (2008)