While the crossroads have become a common space for instructors of writing, Davis and Shadle’s book focuses on having students write for future classes and beyond the academy. Their argument for students to write for multiple genres and in multiple media proves to be not only possible but also responsible. Even so, the book only briefly touches on issues of “transfer” (165) and “assessment” (179), and the reader is left with more work. Issues of institutional support and expectations of stakeholders are left under-discussed. In the introduction of the book the authors acknowledge the understandable limitations of their text, and explain their goal to continue the conversation at their website, The Horn of Mystery. The authors propose this site as a way to expand the conversations in the book, but because of the malleability and transformative nature of the Internet, the website itself seems to no longer exist.

Each chapter concludes with classroom exercises and a project suggestion to implement the changes forwarded throughout the book. These activities suggest ways for students and instructors to change their expectations of various types of academic exercises, such as how students’ can revise their approach to research. Even so, real change is likely to remain a challenge, especially considering earlier experiences with research, persuasion, and essay writing which tend to inform classroom activity. Even so, these tangible activities and exercises included provide a solid place to begin change for both novice and advanced instructors of writing.