Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2021 -

This new study by political scientists Schaffner (Tufts Univ.), Rhodes, and La Raja (Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst) has the hallmarks of a classic Cambridge publication: an important, novel argument backed by voluminous data. This is a persuasive book that tests the oft-stated maxim (in the study of politics) that local government is closest to the people. The approach taken is to explore how residents' expressed preferences are reflected in representation and policy at the local level. Taking advantage of newly available data from the privately owned "Catalist" electioneering database, the authors measure how closely representatives and their local policy orientations match the expectations of their constituents. The surprising--and disturbing--finding is that despite a rich ideological diversity across American municipalities and counties, local governance reflects systematic class and especially racial bias, perhaps to an even greater extent than at the national level. Scholars and practitioners alike should take seriously both the findings of significant imbalance in this study of representation, and the authors' recommendations--admittedly, only preliminary in scope--of urgently needed remedies.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

In Obama's Fractured Presidency, Vergniolle de Chantal has assembled leading European and American presidential scholars to assess the impact of the Obama presidency on US society. The volume derives from an international conference of experts on American politics, held in Paris in December 2016, to examine Obama's legacy. The volume comprises 13 diverse and original essays analyzing a wide range of topics about Obama's eight years in office. The theme that permeates all the essays is that although Obama had many successes in office, his presidency never achieved the transformative role he and his supporters envisioned in 2008. Obama's inability to establish a transformative presidency was the result of polarized politics and his own penchant for pragmatism and compromise. This failure left unaddressed the divisions in American society that paved the way for Trump's successful presidential campaign in 2016. Two essays in this volume deserve special mention. In the opening essay Stephen Skowronek does an excellent job of explaining the limitations on Obama's leadership, and in the coda Sidney Milkis provides a brilliant analysis of how Obama's legacy impacted the 2016 election. This is a well-researched and well-written assessment of the Obama presidency, and a perceptive analysis of the impact of polarized politics on American government and democracy.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

This is an outstanding contribution to the great mystery at the center of American politics--why the US has failed to invest in human and social capital, which would address the problems faced by economically threatened groups. The authors' analysis is centered on examining the tension between regressive populists who play on racial resentment and progressive populists who seek to expand social benefits. Engstrom and Huckfeldt (both, Univ. of California, Davis) argue that the different strategies of progressive populists and regressive populists sharpen the divisions among groups of disadvantaged voters, thereby preventing them from coalescing into a unified voting bloc and pushing for policies to address economic decline. Moreover, the internal divisions among disadvantaged voters are amplified by the electoral system, which creates winner-take-all elections. To be sure, Donald Trump's victory exposed the rivalry between the forces of race and class and helps account for the electoral results. The authors conclude that upside-down populism, as represented by race-baiting regressive policies, has failed to arrest the decline of opportunities for those who have been left behind by a post-industrial, high-skilled economy. In all, this touchstone study provides a superb analysis of the current turmoil in American politics.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

The US jury system is shrouded in secrecy. It is revered across the world but also often mocked for the ease with which US citizens can qualify to serve on a jury. Chakravarti (government, Wesleyan Univ.) details the history of juries in the US and, more important, the role they have played in legitimizing or delegitimizing decision making. In other words, the book is about much more than juries; it sheds light on philosophical notions of populism that stem from ancient Greece. In each of the five chapters Chakravarti outlines specific jurisprudential ideas and juxtaposes the issues against broader notions of the law. In the first chapter the author provides a substantive philosophical foundation, using Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1835-40) as the backdrop. Providing a space where history and contemporary times meet, Chakravarti uses Tocqueville to look at the role of women in juries and how historical misogyny impacted the current construction (and impact) of juries. Inspiring and motivational, Radical Enfranchisement shows how juries have become imbedded in all aspects of legal and social life. Juries have been the subject of many books, but no previous scholar has dealt with the far-ranging issues that impact their construction in the way that Chakravarti does.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.

Saito's Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law is an insightful analysis of the structural racism that continues to shape the lives of millions of people in settler societies like the US. An accomplished legal scholar, Saito (College of Law, Georgia State Univ.) traverses some familiar historical ground in reflecting on the tension between indigenous sovereignty and the rights discourse of liberal democracies. Saito builds on anthropologist/ethnographer Patrick Wolfe's often-cited argument that settler societies are structured around the elimination of indigenous nations. This formulation provides the foundation for Saito's analysis of the economic, legal, and political structures that continue to perpetuate income inequality and gender and racial discrimination in the US. These aspects of settler colonialism are manifested in the internal colonization of Black and Asian American people. Saito makes a compelling case for how the "dynamic of difference" (the focus of chapter 5) continues to structure virtually every facet of life in the US. Saito sustains this argument over 12 chapters, and he also offers a road map to decolonization and expresses hope that the iniquities of contemporary society can be transcended. This is an important addition to the literature.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and researchers.

The great strength of this book is its in-depth accounts of recent renewable energy policy debates in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio, also including considerable material on California. Stokes (Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) combines information from 108 interviews with data from public records to provide detailed accounts of conflicts between renewable energy and coal interests, with central roles played by Koch Industries and the American Legislative Exchange Council. She demonstrates convincingly the power of the coal industry to halt or delay vital action against climate change. She offers these accounts within a theoretical framework of explaining why what she calls "path dependency" and "policy feedback" (both of which generally have broader meanings) or "policy lock-in" failed to protect solar and wind energy requirements once they were adopted. The expectation was that the new requirements would create new interest groups that would in turn defend them. But, as Stokes shows, this expectation failed to take into account the continuing power of coal companies and electric utilities. Comparisons with states that have successfully adopted and strengthened renewable energy policies would have been an interesting enhancement--but perhaps that is a different book.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

In 1955, Jimmy Stringfellow, owner of a quarry in Riverside County, California, agreed to the use of his property for hazardous waste disposal. In the next 18 years, a dozen manufacturers dumped more than 33 million gallons of toxic chemicals into unlined ponds, contaminating the groundwater. This resulted in what became one of the longest tests of federal Superfund legislation. Craig (School of Legal Studies, Purdue Univ. Global., and a practicing lawyer) presents the background of the case and discusses plaintiffs (thousands of threatened residents and their representatives), defendants (the manufacturers involved and local/state governments), leading lawyers on both sides, state and federal judges, and the impressive special master who arbitrated. The case is notable, Craig finds, for its impact on both hazardous waste and insurance laws. The primary court finding was that California was "grossly negligent, if not reckless" (p. 117), and this verdict changed institutional culture and behavior regarding hazardous waste. The acid pits were replaced by a modern treatment plant and monitoring system; after millions spent on cleanup costs (which some say will extend 500 years into the future), justice was served. Including 40 pages of notes and a 10-page timeline, this book scrutinizes an interesting case study that deserves greater attention in the environmental literature.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Timely, well referenced, and with a distinctly western-US perspective, this edited volume demonstrates breadth of experience--contributing authors hail from academia, NGOs, the world of journalism, and conservation activism. Sixteen chapters are organized into four sections: first an overview, followed by a series of chapters on national lands, wildfire, and river policy. Part 3 covers ecosystem management; part 4 explores land ownership, Native American sovereignty, development, and conflict. Differences between rural residents and the growing US urban population are reflected in discussion of competing politics and policy expectations. Fractures have emerged between the "old West" and the "new West," with urban residents increasingly exercising their rights. Rural traditions of resource utilization (e.g., open-range grazing, resource extraction) are found to be incompatible with expanding settlement, recreation interests, and concern about downstream externalities. Policy and land-management realities are confounded by climate change--as wildfires increase in frequency, size, and cost, water demand increases while availability is reduced. Contributors bring historical, social, legal, and land-management perspectives, informing and illustrating that there are no simple solutions. This significant contribution to the literature on wildlands, wildlife, resources, and indigenous sovereignty is a must read for scholars in environmental fields and an excellent text for a seminar.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper- and lower-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty and professionals. Students in two-year technical programs.

In this succinct, rigorously empirical, and unusually evenhanded book, Joslyn (political science, Univ. of Kansas) explains the connection between guns and politics in the US. The "gap" to which the book's title refers is the political difference between those who do and do not own guns. The gun gap has been neglected by scholars of political behavior in favor of examinations of race, class, and gender gaps. But Joslyn argues that the gun gap in voting frequently exceeds these other gaps. Using survey data from a number of sources, the author documents how the gun gap manifests itself across a range of outcomes, from voter preference (discussed in chapter 2) to turnout (chapter 3) to other perceptions and attitudes that have political consequences, such as the death penalty (chapters 4-7). To his credit, Joslyn digs more deeply into the experiential roots of these differences than have many gun scholars (e.g., those who take a quantitative approach), highlighting how the different social worlds inhabited by gun owners and non-owners shape their orientations to guns, risk, and policy. A valuable resource for those interested in the roots and expression of the US's polarized gun politics.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Many scholars have raised concerns about the steadily growing powers of the US presidency. Prakash (Univ. of Virginia) joins this critique from an originalist perspective: "Our Founding Fathers certainly did not fashion a Constitution that authorized presidents to amend and expand their constitutional office.... We are right to be uneasy about the future." In his first eight chapters, Prakash charts the evolution of the modern presidency beyond the original parameters of the office. Though initially designed as a powerful office, the contemporary presidency, he argues, far exceeds what the Founders envisioned in its exercise of powers. Prakash examines the growth of presidential military powers, presidential supremacy in foreign affairs, and the ability of the president to gainsay the Congress as a "secondary lawmaker." The final chapter ("How to Recage the Executive Lion") discusses possible reforms to limit presidential powers, but Prakash is not confident that they will be adopted or successful. Ultimately, he argues, voters must "demand a renaissance of constitutional first principles." He finds this outcome implausible, however, and provides scant grounds for optimism about trimming back the president's power. This excellent volume conveys important constitutional history and highlights major contemporary constitutional problems. Prakash deserves a wide scholarly readership.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

This substantial work examines why the US labor movement failed to expand its gains made during the 1930s into the postwar period (late 1950s-80s). Former labor and civil rights activist Goldfield (Wayne State Univ.) traces the failures of "Operation Dixie," intended to permanently insure labor power in the South, and portrays these failures as a national tragedy. He shows that after labor began to flounder in 1946, anti-labor sentiments began to show in newly established legislative restrictions such as the Taft-Hartley Act, which championed the so-called right to work yet bolstered the tendency toward red-baiting within the labor movement. Goldfield's text is noteworthy in reestablishing the important role of communists in building a powerful and viable organization during the 1930s. Ultimately union bosses, styling themselves as "business-oriented" labor leaders, became corporate in their views and narrow in their goals. Many who relied on the support of Franklin Roosevelt, e.g., Sidney Hillman, Philip Murray, John L. Lewis, and Walter Reuther, sacrificed class solidarity for limited economic and political gains. Goldfield convincingly shows that this sacrifice damaged the morale of the rank and file, exploiting both race-baiting and red-baiting in the process. For its exposure of "the poverty of liberalism" (chapter 7), Goldfield's book ranks among the top tier of available resources.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Certainly an unusual book, this artful volume will fascinate anyone interested in America's political history. There is limited text: a short introduction, the main historical essay on ballots by graphic design scholar and entrepreneur Cheng (MGMT. design, Brooklyn), and a final essay on recent ballot design and integrity issues by Victoria Bassetti (fellow of the Brennan Center for Justice, New York Univ. School of Law). Most of the book comprises a wonderful collection of visual materials, mainly images of ballots, but also includes a few cartoons and drawings with accompanying descriptions. As Cheng's interests are more in design than in political science, her essay is not intended to be comprehensive and does not reference much of the scholarship on early US voting. Nonetheless it contains interesting nuggets, recalling the use of voice voting in early US history and the causes and ramifications of having adopted the secret (Australian) ballot. The visuals also include mementos of significant historical movements and policies, e.g., the temperance movement and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, as well as revelatory illustrations of all the various ways ballots can be designed. Together these features form a noteworthy contribution to US political history. The book would be useful in any course touching on the history of US elections.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Skillen (environmental studies, Calvin Univ.) examines in detail the confrontations and negotiations between US federal authorities and ranchers, primarily in Utah and Nevada, that occurred between 1979 and the present. He begins with the travails of three families in Nevada, including one family who aggressively (and successfully) confronted authorities and two others that "followed the rules" and lost in the courts. Part 2 ("The Sagebrush Rebellion") describes how state legislative claims against federal land regulations received support from the Reagan administration and those speaking for the rising New Right. This was followed by various land management changes that sparked increased opposition from landowners, various counties' assertions of their land rights, creative constitutional interpretations, and the rise of militia groups. The final section places these occurrences within the ideological context of the emergent Tea Party and Oath Keepers groups across the nation. In particular, the West saw the appearance of "constitutional sheriffs" organizations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Sheriffs_and_Peace_Officers_Association). The last confrontation Skillen treats demonstrates that federal authorities have become more skilled in negotiations and that western dissidents, though rhetorically aggressive, have no wish to engage in violent confrontation. This is an excellent analysis of the dynamics of anti-government sentiment in many western states.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

How does a southern African American man understand the rise, election, and strong support of Donald Trump? In a series of cogent, well-researched essays, Bailey (Davidson College) deconstructs the arguments put forth to explain the election by carefully examining the politics and history of his home state of South Carolina. The analysis of poverty, religious practices, and criminal justice issues (especially the case of Jamar Huggins in the penultimate chapter) illuminates subjective behaviors clearly at odds with what some voters profess to be their true beliefs. It is not so much racial hypocrisy, Bailey argues, as cultural arrogance and apathy toward fellow citizens of color, a challenging legacy of American history that appears to resist easy fixes. This provocative, challenging work demands that readers of all backgrounds and ethnicities rethink their assumptions about race and politics when discussing the legacy of Donald Trump.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.

After a brief hiatus, the Electoral College has once again become the subject of scrutiny, and new scholarship has emerged examining the institution on a variety of fronts. Keyssar (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Univ.) provides perhaps the most exhaustive treatment of the oft-maligned body. Despite nearly a thousand attempts to reform or abolish it, the Electoral College has persisted. Keyssar sets out to help readers understand why this is the case. In rich detail, he illustrates how the complex nature of the Electoral College and the difficulties presented by the constitutional amendment process largely explain its resilience. Uncertainty over how changes to the presidential selection process would affect outcomes has also impeded change. He concludes by analyzing current efforts to reform the Electoral College and suggests that its continued existence is not inevitable, although changes to it would require bipartisan action, something that has eluded realization in recent decades. Keyssar's treatise is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the Electoral College and its history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.