In recent times it has come to be realized that pentoses are important as building blocks in the organism and as intermediate products in meta bolism. The finding that ribose and desoxyribose are nucleic acid con stituents and the discovery of the pentose-phosphate cycle have put these substances in a central position in biochemical research. The con current realization that the pentitol, xylitol, is involved in an important metabolic cycle and that the body can handle it in quantities comparable in magnitude to the well-known carbohydrates has resulted in extensive experimental and clinical studies, especially in Germany and Japan. Some of the properties of xylitol, e.g. its independence of insulin and also its utilization in other disturbances of the glucose metabolism have aroused considerable interest among clinicians. The initial experiments have shown that xylitol may be of significant therapeutic value, and more extensive research work into the possible clinical applications of xylitol is being undertaken. Xylitol research is a typical example of the interrelation of the clinical and experimental approaches to a problem. These rapid advances in knowledge made it necessary to bring together workers in both the research and clinical fields in order that they might discuss their findings in critical fashion and advance our understanding of this subject.

An excellent book. Takagi takes a very complex and sensitive subject-racial politics-and shows, through a careful analysis . . . that changes in the discourse about Asian American admissions have facilitated a 'retreat from race' in the area of affirmative action. . . . This book will appeal to an audience significantly wider than a typical academic one."- David Karen, Bryn Mawr CollegeCharges by Asian Americans that the top universities in the United States used quotas to limit the enrollment of Asian-American students developed into one of the most controversial public controversies in higher education since the Bakke case. In Retreat from Race, Dana Takagi follows the debates over Asian-American admissions at Berkeley, UCLA, Brown, Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton. She explains important developments in the politics of race: changes in ethnic coalitions, reconstruction of the debate over affirmative action, and the conservative challenge to the civil rights agenda of the 1960s. Takagi examines the history and significance of the Asian American admissions controversy on American race relations both inside and outside higher education. Takagi's central argument is that the Asian-American admissions controversy facilitated a subtle but important shift in affirmative action policy away from racial preferences toward class preferences. She calls this development a retreat from race. Takagi suggests that the retreat signals not only an actual policy shift but also the increasing reluctance on the part of intellectuals, politicans, and policy analysts to identify and address social problems as explicitly racial problems. Moving beyond the university setting, Takagi explores the political significance of the retreat from race by linking Asian-American admissions to other controversies in higher education and in American politics, including the debates over political correctness and multiculturalism. In her assessment, the retreat from race is likely to fail at its promise of easing racial tension and promoting racial equality.