Book Reviews and Notices : Outside Readings in American Government. BY H. MALCOLM MACDON-ALD, WILFORD D. WEBB, EDWARD G. LEWIS AND WILLIAM L. STRAUSS. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1949. Pp. x, 854. $2.75.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200460
• Author: Ellsworth E. Weaver
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Date: 01 December 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

676

materials.

One

of

the

trends

on

the

domestic

scene

about

which

the

au-

thors

show

notable

concern

in

a

chapter

entitled

&dquo;Stresses

and

Strains

in

the

Balancing

of

Powers&dquo;

is

the

growth

of

executive

authority.

The

chapters

on

foreign

policy

also

reflect

overtones

of

the

controversial

thesis

propounded

in

American

Foreign

Policy

in

the

Making,

1932-1940,

relating

to

the

motivation,

purpose

and

results

of

Franklin

Roosevelt’s

war

dinlomacv.

TOTTON

J.

ANDERSON.

University

of

Southern

California.

Outside

Readings

in

American

Government.

BY

H.

MALCOLM

MACDON-

ALD,

WILFORD

D.

WEBB,

EDWARD

G.

LEWIS

AND

WILLIAM

L.

STRAUSS.

(New

York:

Thomas

Y.

Crowell

Company.

1949.

Pp.

x,

854.

$2.75.)

Like

other

supplementary

books

of

readings,

this

work

attempts

to

select

from

the

great

mass

of

ideas

and

materials

in

print

those

few

that

illustrate

the

fundamental

problems

and

principles

of

American

govern,

ment.

It

is

almost

needless

to

say

that

no

two

instructors

will

agree

in

all

respects

with

the

selections

made.

Unlike

many

books

of

readings

it is

not

a

&dquo;case

book,&dquo;

although

many

Supreme

Court

decisions

are

included.

What

makes

the

book

really

useful

in

the

elementary

courses

in

Ameri-

can

government

is

the

inclusion

of

the

thinking

of

persons

in

public

life

on

questions

which

are

bound

to

provoke

thought

and

discussion

by

the

student.

An

item

making

the

book

of

some

interest

is

the

paper

binding.

The

life

of

textbooks

is

short

and

there

is

no

valid

excuse

for

binding

a

book

to

make

it

last

longer

than

its

usefulness.

ELLSWORTH

E.

WEAVER.

University

of

Utah.

Government

of

Cities

in

the

United

States.

BY

HAROLD

ZINK.

(New

York:

The

Macmillan

Company.

Revised

edition,

1948.

Pp.

x,

637.

$5.00.)

From

this

writer’s

experience,

which

extends

over

a

twenty-year

period

of

active

interest

in

public

affairs,

the

study

of

city

government

is

as

exciting

and

invigorating

as

one’s

first

view

of

a

New

Mexico

sunset.

That

is,

it

could

and

should

be;

unfortunately,

the

color,

drama,

and

dynamics

of

governmental

activities

have

been

squeezed

out

of

most

of

the

textbooks

concerned

with

city

government.

Unless

the

average

col-

lege

student

has

a

better

than

average

imagination

which

enables

him

to

read

between

the

lines

or

capture

the

essence

of

the

vigorous

interplay