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Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development Edited by U. Bronfenbrenner Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 2004. Pp. 336. Paperback, $34.95. /SBN 0761927123. Hardback, $74.95. ISBN 0761927115
Long before I ever met Urie Bronfenbrenner, I was an avid reader of his work. As someone interested in Soviet society, I had read his 1970 volume Two Worlds of Childhood: US and USSR, and encountered several of his other publications in graduate school and postdoctoral study in Moscow. It was during a subsequent trip to Moscow in 1977 that I finally met Urie at an international conference, and the first impression he left was indelible.
Given that one of the topics I study is memory, I realize that the details of my recollection are probably inaccurate, but the fact is that Urie had such an impression on me that I have a vivid, almost 'flashbulb' memory of the occasion. It was at a meeting organized by the Soviet Academy of Sciences in a building on Leningrad Prospekt in the seventh floor conference room.
Urie and other major figures from American psychology such as Bill Kessen from Yale, along with my Russian mentor and friend Volodya Zinchenko, were there at a meeting on developmental and educational psychology. During one of the breaks I was introduced to Urie by Volodya, and then I was able to watch the Soviet-American group as they continued their discussions. The group was having a hard time getting down to business, largely because several of the Soviet participants were arguing among themselves about some procedural matter. At that point, Urie, who was chairing the session, spoke up in that clear, inimitable voice of his, saying 'Deti! Deti' [Children! Children!], to bring the group to order. The group immediately came to order.
I was a little taken aback by this move on his part, but because Urie was who he was, and because he had the universal respect of the people around the table, this stern father managed to get away with it and start up a productive afternoon session. I will never forget the warm, yet forceful way that Urie pulled that session into order. The reminder to all was that this was a voice both of authority and of care, and...