Book Reviews : Dancing Bear: An Inside Look at California Politics. By GLADWIN HILL. (Cleve land: World Publishing Co., 1968. Pp. 303. $6.50.) Ronnie & Jesse: A Political Odyssey. By Lou CANNON. (Garden City: Doubleday & Co., 1969. Pp. xv, 340. $7.95.)

• Author: Alan J. Wyner
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297002300118
• Published date: 01 March 1970
• Date: 01 March 1970
• Subject Matter: Articles

218

each

nation,

and

then

compare

the

strength

and

composition

of

the

Communist

revolution

across

all

Asian

nations.

Without

doing

this

two-step

comparison

one

can

not

really

attempt

to

answer

the

most

intriguing

question:

Why

have

some

Asian

Communist

parties

been

able

to

seize

state

power

while

others

are

as

frag-

mented

and

ineffective

as

non-Communist

political

groups?

This

two-step

approach

requires

a

researcher

to

probe

deep

into

a

nation’s

political

culture

and

other

social

and

economic

factors

that

have

contributed

to

the

diversity

of

Asian

communism.

What

is

needed

is

less

formalistic

type

of

comparison

but

more

comparative

political

sociology.

University

of

California,

Santa

Barbara

ALAN

P.

L.

LIU

Dancing

Bear:

An

Inside

Look

at

California

Politics.

By

GLADWIN

HILL.

(Cleve-

land:

World

Publishing

Co.,

1968.

Pp. 303.

$6.50.)

Ronnie &

Jesse: A

Political

Odyssey.

By

Lou

CANNON.

(Garden

City:

Doubleday

&

Co.,

1969.

Pp.

xv,

340.

$7.95.)

Gladwin

Hill

has

been

covering

the

California

beat

for

the

New

York

Times

for

over

twenty

years.

At

one

time

the

California

state

insignia

showed

a

bear

up

on

its

hind

legs

in circus

fashion.

Hill

explains

why

he

chose

Dancing

Bear

as

his

title

by

relating

the

Samuel

Johnson

remark

&dquo;that

it

might

not

be

done

well,

but

you

are

surprised

to

find

it

done

at

all.&dquo;

Such

is

Hill’s

evaluation

of

Golden

State

politics.

As

journalists

are

wont,

Hill

chooses

to

write

about

modern

history

by

focus-

ing

on

a

continuing

parade

of

political

men:

Southern

Pacific

corruption

and

Stanford,

et

al.;

the

Progressive

Era

and

Hiram

Johnson;

California

during

the

depression

and

Upton

Sinclair;

World

War

II,

the

postwar

boom

and

Earl

War-

ren ;

and

into

contemporary

times

with

Pat

Brown,

Richard

Nixon,

Jesse

Unruh

and

Ronald

Reagan.

Ronnie ~

Jesse

also

focuses

on

men

rather

than

institutions

as

a

device

to

illuminate

recent

California

politics.

The

book

is

very

good

biography.

Lou

Can-

non,

capitol

bureau

chief

for

the

San

Jose

Mercury-News,

is

neutral

to

a

fault

when

writing

on

two

public

men

about

whom

it

is

very

difficult

to

remain

unemotional.

Unruh

is

shown

as

the

political

insider

who

enjoys

the

opportunity

to

exercise

power,

employs

his

prerogatives

with

skill,

and

at

one

point

abuses

his

position,

i.e.,

in

the

great

1963

&dquo;lockup.&dquo;

Unruh’s

maneuvering

within

the

legislative

arena

dur-

ing

the

1950’s

and

1960’s

was

obviously

accomplished

with

relish.

Reagan’s

image,

on

the

other

hand,

strikes

a

softer

chord.

No

arm-twisting

for

him.

Yet,

Cannon

suggests

that

Reagan

has

the

ability

to

&dquo;knock

heads&dquo;

when

the

chips

are

down.

A

clear

example

was

Reagan’s

fight

with

the

so-called

water

bureaucracy

over

the

desirability

of

the

Dos

Rios

Dam -

a

fight

that

Reagan

has

won

so

far.

Cannon

leads

us

to

the

inevitable

conclusion

that

both

men

enjoy

the

exercise

of

power,

despite

their

stylistic

differences.