Book Reviews and Notices : A Primer of Public Administration. By S. E. FINER. (London: Frederick Muller, Ltd. 1950. Pp. vii, 160. 6s.)

• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400164
• Subject Matter: Articles

184

make

for

greater

usefulness

to

the

beginning

student

who

is

struggling

to

gain

perspective.

By

skillful

organization,

the

text

condenses

a

large

amount

of

data

into

a

single

volume

without

creating

an

effect

of

un-

wieldiness

or

of

overburdening

detail.

In

his

selection

of

cases,

Professor

Hart

has

not

striven

for

originality,

but

follows

rather

conventional

patterns.

It

is

in

the

organization,

presentation,

and

analysis

that

the

volume

commands

particular

attention.

This

work

will

be

found

valuable

as

a

textbook

in

courses

in

admin-

istrative

law,

and

will

prove

a

most

valuable

supplementary

work

in

various

studies

in

public

administration.

University

of

San

Francisco.

ROBERT

CAMPBELL

MACKENZIE.

Bibliography

on

Public

Administration:

Annotated.

By

CATHERYN

SECKLER-HUDSON.

(Washington,

D.

C.:

The

American

University

Press.

1949. Pp. vii,

55.

$2.00.)

This

is

a

compact

and

useful

guide

to

materials

&dquo;prepared

for

those

whose

interest

lies

primarily

in

the

field

of

national

administration&dquo;

(Intro-

duction,

p.

v).

Sections

are

devoted

to

the

general

resources

of

the

subject,

background

references,

periodicals,

regulation

and

adjudication,

budgetary

administration,

organization

and

management,

personnel,

and

public

relations.

An

index,

consisting

of

authors’

names,

concludes

the

volume.

Thus

items

contributed

by

Leonard

D.

White,

for

example,

may

be

found

on

pages

1,

9,

10,

43,

and

50,

if

author-interest

rather

than

subject

matter

motivates

inquiry.

The

annotations

are

concise

and

descriptive.

While

not

exhaustive

but

purposely

selective,

the

work

will

prove

to

have

great

utility

for

nearly

all

students

and

for

many

practitioners.

The

section

devoted

to

background

references

is

a

worthy

guide

to

graduate

students

preparing

for

political

science

examinations

in

the

field.

University

of

Utah.

G.

HOMER

DURHAM.

A

Primer

of

Public

Administration.

By

S.

E.

FINER.

(London:

Frederick

Muller,

Ltd.

1950.

Pp.

vii,

160.

6s.)

The

nature

of

British

government

has

made

the

British

view

of

public

administration

broader

and

more

pervasive

than

that

which

is

held

by

many

American

scholars.

The

cabinet

form,

representing

as

it

does

a

fusion

of

political,

legislative,

and

executive

power,

imparts

a

concept

of

public

administration

which

is

not

associated

exclusively

with

the

operations

of

the

executive

branch.

Furthermore,

the

fact

that

British

government

is

organized

under

a

unitary

system

has

resulted

in

Great

Britain

in

closer

attention

to

the

over-all

structure

and

relationships

of

the