Lennard Davis has recently noted that a second wave of disability studies is underway. While the first wave has been concerned with central questions and definitions of disability studies, second-wavers "ask questions and make new assertions about the 'truths' of the field," including "the areas of identity formation, the differences (rather than the similarities) between impairments, the seemingly incompatibility between models (notably those of the United Kingdom and the United States), questions about the relationship between theory and praxis, and the role of the intellectual vis-à-vis the activist" (xiii). In certain respects, this questioning and reasserting is a continuation of Paul Longmore's identification of a "second phase" of the disability rights movement, in which attention moves in a complementary and reciprocal way from rights and access to culture and community. In short, disability studies continues to be in the midst of a transition. In Disability Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, Dan Goodley enacts this transition, connecting first wave issues, such as definitions of terms and debates in the field, to more contemporary questions that drive the interdisciplinary approach to disability studies today.

While it is titled an "Introduction," Disability Studies both introduces and extends key concepts, approaches, and methods in the field. Chapters 1-3 focus on definitions of disability (including various models of disability), debates within disability studies, and intersections of disability with race, class, gender and sex. Chapters 4-9 focus on core areas of disability studies, devoting attention to society, individuals, psychology, discourse, culture, and education, respectively. A final chapter, Chapter 10, engages with Critical Disability Studies, moving analyses forward to new areas of study. Overall, Disability Studies offers a wide and varied overview of the field and moves towards extending analysis in new directions. While early chapters may be a review for seasoned scholars, they are useful for those who may be new to the field, and later chapters offer something useful for everyone.

Goodley explicitly positions disability studies from a global perspective at the outset, while noting that the book "is written from a base in England" (xi). Particularly valuable in this global positioning is attention to Nordic "relational" approaches to disability which highlight "the positive influence of services and professionals on the lives of disabled people" (15-16) and which are relatively neglected in North American or United States-based disability conversations. Also valuable is an explicit approach to disability from a "transdisciplinary" place. Chapters span a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, critical psychology, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, and education. Connections to and contributions from psychology are particularly well-explored in several chapters.

Goodley relies on several methods to increase interaction between reader and text. One such strategy is the various "thinking points" interspersed in each chapter. These thinking points can be skipped if one does not wish to disrupt the flow of reading, but they often productively interrupt the text to ask important questions, branch out to practical-oriented applications, and make connections to related issues. Particularly useful are frequent suggestions to conduct web-based searches. This encouragement to leave the text and connect to real-world applications through technology enlivens the reading experience. Another strategy Goodley employs for summarizing and delineating key concepts is the use of tables to organize information and convey complicated issues to readers. These tables are highly informative and helpful, but in one instance, in a table that shows the differences between approaches to disability as minority politics (USA and Canada) and disability as social barriers (UK), readers might also be alerted to connections and cross-overs between these two models.

The middle chapters, Chapters 4-9, focus on "core analyses" of disability studies, taking an approach that combines attention to "three overlapping layers of everyday life: psyche, culture and society" (xi-xii). Goodley defines "psyche" as recognizing "the tight knot of the person and the social world, the self and other people, the individual and society" (xii). This approach structures the widely-varied middle chapters well. Each middle chapter focuses on sociology, psychology, critical psychology, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, and education, respectively.

Several of these middle chapters in particular explore psychology and specifically the psychologisation of disabled people, concepts which Goodley argues are under-explored and under-theorized in disability studies. With connections to psychoanalysis, however, Goodley notes, "be warned: always view psychoanalysis with healthy skepticism rather than deluded affiliation!" (123). With this caveat, Goodley explores Lacanian possibilities within disability studies, which he describes as "somewhat speculative and under-developed" in existing accounts (124). He concludes, however, that "Psychoanalysis might be at its most powerful when employed to make sense of organizational prejudice and discrimination against disabled people and the phantasised ideals of hyper-rationality and independence of contemporary culture" (Goodley et al., 2011; 135). This summation may be strengthened by more specific examples, implications or applications, so that the portions devoted to psychologisation and psychoanalysis in the book are better grounded.

In his final two chapters, Goodley stakes new territory between disability studies and its transdisciplinary connections. Exploring an approach to disability in education based on inclusion, Goodley writes, "Disability studies and social justice meet at the crossroads of inclusive education" (138). Exploring disadvantages to neoliberal approaches to education in general and specifically for students with disabilities, Goodley notes that approaches and practices from critical pedagogy studies may be helpful. Suggesting adjustments such as changes in school culture, broadened curricula and revisions of the student-teacher partnership, Goodley employs Paulo Freire's concept of conscientisation to envision a critical pedagogy of liberation.

In his final chapter, Goodley explores developments in critical disability studies, bringing together recurrent themes in the book and exploring possibilities for future study. Particularly valuable here is Goodley's use of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's exploration of Empire in relation to disability contexts. Goodley describes Empire as supporting "a preferred psychology and version of the self: healthy, rational, autonomous, educated, economically viable, self-governing and able—a self contained individual. And if you don't fit, then Empire is ready to fix you" (164). For Goodley, understanding the effects of Empire in the context of disability is crucial to resistance. Goodley also finds possibilities for resistance in the posthuman figures of cyborgs and hybrids, noting that insights derived from technology, although present in feminist studies, "remain largely dormant in disability studies" because the "history of disability technology is one of normalization, cure and rehabilitation (167). Despite this history, Goodley encourages explorations into how technology can assist resistance and empower people with disabilities.

Disability Studies may be especially useful in classrooms, particularly to supplement other disability collections with more specific foci. Chapters are logically sequenced and are of appropriate length for classroom use. Key terms are well defined throughout the book, which also suits the work well for the classroom. Complicated concepts such as neoliberalism, poststructualism and biopower are also carefully explained for students and other audiences, with helpful suggestions for follow-up reading. Each chapter also ends with suggestions for further reading with short but useful summaries. The extensive bibliography is a valuable resource for anyone interested in disability.