JOSEPH HOWE SYMPOSIUM: PROCEEDINGS. Edited by Wayne A. Hunt. Halifax, Nimbus Publishing, c1984. 136pp, paper, $7.95. ISBN 0-920852-36-X. (Anchorage series #2). CIP Post-Secondary Reviewed by Marion Mintis Volume 14 Number 3 1986 May This symposium held in 1983 at Mount Allison University, sponsored by their Centre for Canadian Studies, heard seven papers presented on the subject of Joseph Howe. J. Murray Beck's "Joseph Howe - A Liberal but with Qualifications" describes Howe's early opposition to Confederation, his distrust of change, his Nova Scotian loyalty, his devotion to his British heritage, and his peculiar brand of conservative liberalism. In "Joseph Howe and Education: An Overview," William Hamilton analyses Howe's continuing interest in education and his unsuccessful attempts to bring free common school education to Nova Scotia. In Moody's "Joseph Howe, the Baptists and the College Question," there is a discussion of the political ambitions of the Halifax Baptists in the 1840s and Howe's falling-out with them. David Sutherland addresses the question of what made Howe a reformer in "Joseph Howe and the Boosting of Halifax," and M.G. Parks recounts Howe's contributions to culture in Nova Scotia in "The Editor Speaks: Joseph Howe as Exemplar, Promoter and Critic of Provincial Culture." "To Foster and Extend Our Provincial Literature," by George Parker, deals with Howe's fourteen years as a publisher and the problems he encountered trying to compete with British and American publishers for markets. It also documents the end of his friendship with Haliburton, whom he had first published. The final paper is George Rawlyk's "J.M. Beck's Joseph Howe," a critique of Beck's two-volume biography of Howe. The quality of the articles is uniformly scholarly and excellent, with an evident eye to presenting the information in such a way that a reader with limited historical background can easily follow the arguments. Overall evaluation? Surprisingly interesting. Marion Mintis, Bonar Law Memorial School, Rexton, N.B.