Book Reviews

• DOI: 10.1177/02750749922064346
• Date: 01 June 1999
• Published date: 01 June 1999
• Subject Matter: Articles

ARPA/June1999BOOKREVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and

Public Organizations (2nd ed.). By John Carver. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,

1997. 256 pp., $28.95, Hardcover.

Governing Boards: Their Nature and Nurture. By Cyril Houle. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass, 1997 (original work published 1989). 256 pp., $21.95, Softcover.

The Board Member’s Guide to Strategic Planning: A Practical Approach to

Strengthening Nonprofit Organizations. By Fisher Howe. San Francisco: Jossey-

Bass, 1997. 144 pp., $21.95, Hardcover.

The nonprofit sector is facing increasing public scrutinywith a particular eye on

matters of governance and accountability.By focusing on improved governance in

nonprofit (and public) organizations, each of the above authors is, in his ownway,

attemptingtobetterpreparenonprofitorganizationsfor this scrutiny. Each author is

well known and respected; indeed, there is a sense of treading on sacred ground in

assessingthe usefulness and efficacyof the above texts. There is also a sense of dis-

appointment (and some guilt) in finding little or only moderate value in these well-

known titles.

Beyond a general category of “governance”there is little that these texts have in

common.Houleoffersthebroadestcoverageofboardgovernance(as itiscurrently

understood and practiced) with Howe addressing the specific function and task of

strategicplanning.YetCarveriscomingfromacompletelydifferentframeofrefer-

ence, offering a model of governance that renders Houle and Howe meaningless.

Indeed, it is ironic that both Houle and Carver begin by describing the pervasive

role that boards play in our lives and then offer divergent conclusions regarding

their value and function. If anything Houle offersus a “Pollyanna” version of boards

with careful attention to tasks and detail as keys to effective board governance.

Carver, on the other hand, sees nothing worth maintaining in the current practice of

nonprofit and public boards; he wants revolution and offers a plan to achieve it.

Houle’s Governing Boards: Their Nature and Nurture is the oldest title, first

published in 1989 with a paperback re-release published in 1997. As a scholar,

administrator,board member,and now senior program consultantto the W.W. Kel-

logg Foundation, Cyril Houle—who first published a paper on boards in 1935—

has spent a lifetime experiencing, studying, and writing about boards. Houle’sfirst

bookonboards, The Effective Board,waspublishedin1960andGoverningBoards

is intended to be “more comprehensive and up-to-date, incorporating lessons

learned since the publication of the earlier book from both first-hand experience

andthewritings of others” (p. xv). This (new) material and perspectiveisorganized

into six chapters: How to Think About a Board; Human Potential of the Board;

AMERICAN REVIEW OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION,Vol. 29 No. 2, June 1999 190-203

© 1999 Sage Publications, Inc.

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