Welsh Journals

the federal system and the central university administration was to be reorganized and strengthened. However, the 1970s and 1980s brought further troubles as they did to most universities faced with financial cutbacks and increased public accountability. The cause celebre of the bank- ruptcy of the Cardiff college in 1987 not only damaged the reputation of the University, which had been unable to control excess spending by one of their colleges, but also led to the demise of the University Grants Com- mittee and to a much stricter national financial control of universities generally. It marked the end of 'donnish dominance' in Wales. None the less in the 1990s the University of Wales reorganized its administration and governance. It is now the second largest university in Britain and con- tinues, in Morgan's words, to aim to be 'the Platonic academy of a nation, for that is what sets the University of Wales apart, and makes it unique among British universities'. SUSAN M. PARKES Trinity College, Dublin CYFRES Y CYMOEDD: CWM CYNON. Edited by Hywel Teifi Edwards. Gomer Press, Uandysul, 1997. Pp. xi, 381. £ 14.95 (paperback). This collection of essays is the latest in a series of works recording the Welsh cultural heritage of the south Wales valleys. Each volume begins by examining the rich tradition of each locality and continues to explore the contribution of Welsh societies and individuals to the cultural life of each valley in the twentieth century. In this volume, considerable attention is paid to the Cynon Valley's literary heritage. Christine James, for instance, in her contribution, discusses the vivid portrayal of early modern society contained in 'Coed Glyn Cynon', a work which highlights the effects of economic change on the native society. The volume also includes important chapters by Lyn Davies, Mihangel Morgan, John Rowlands and Wynne Thomas which highlight the contribution to modern Welsh cultural life made by individuals either born in the Cynon Valley or who spent part of their lives in the locality. The- work of individuals from the Aberdare area to national culture is also explored by the editor in a fascinating account of three visits by the National Eisteddfod to Aberdare where he makes recondite comments on the eisteddfod's contribution in promoting Welsh music and literature. Several chapters in the book offer a detailed portrayal of Welsh cultural movements in the Cynon Valley from the end of the nineteenth century.