Communicating, process, decision making, co-operation, risk and conflict, all principles or areas of stakeholder management, all principles that require a deeper understanding which makes this particular book of great interest not only to stakeholders in construction projects but also the wider built environment community. The book deals at length with the issues of stakeholder management and the editors of the book have to be congratulated for bringing together 42 contributors (stakeholders?) together from around the globe. The book itself is well written, extremely comprehensive in its coverage of the subject area and also provides a huge amount of reference material which make the book extremely valuable to MSc and PhD students alike who are studying the subject area as they have a readymade reference list at their disposal.

Structured in 21 different chapters, the book deals with a number of areas within stakeholder management. It is doubtful however if most readers would utilise the book in this way as the chapters are quite distinct in nature and very specific which will probably result in a reader being drawn to chapters and subject areas that help them deal with issues they currently face in their day-today role rather than read the book cover to cover.

The book begins by introducing the subject of stakeholder management and then offers theoretical perspectives and an overview of stakeholder management. Uptake and best practice of stakeholder management is discussed next and it was this section which I looked forward to reading the most. The text within this section states that: 'it takes 30 years for changes to fully take place' and there is evidence of major projects in the UK which have not adopted the recommendations made by both the Latham and Egan reports. It would have been to the benefit of the book if an additional section had been included on how the constructing excellence demonstration projects within the UK have adopted the principles of both Latham and Egan in relation to the management of stakeholders on both major and minor projects like the projects referred to within the conclusion section of that particular chapter. The book goes on to cover some other important areas amongst others such as risk, strategies and tactics for managing stakeholders, negotiations, communication, culture, procurement, decision making, conflict and change management. This range of coverage is extremely helpful and the authors of the individual chapters provide a valuable insight into the subject of stakeholder management.

A book on this subject area as with many books cannot be completely exhaustive. The one minor drawback or indeed recommendation is that the case studies, whilst appropriate have not been drawn from the major construction industry projects around the globe and some case studies on stakeholder management within these 'industry' powerhouses would have enhanced the material.

Overall, an extremely comprehensive piece of text and a valuable addition to the ever increasing library on the discipline of construction management.

Dr Nigel Craig

Glasgow Caledonian University