Book Reviews : Political Power and Social Change. By PETER H. ODEGARD. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1966. Pp. 111. $3.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900434
• Date: 01 December 1966
• Author: W. Wayne Shannon
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

757
of secular democracy advocated by the Congress party, a democracy encompassing
divergent sects, languages, and ethnic backgrounds.
This is a book written for the reader who has already developed a considerable
interest either in Indian politics or else in the problems of rival communities in
other post-colonial nations. Other readers may find it slow going. This is partly
because it is difficult to grasp the organizational logic which went into the book.
It is not quite clear why one chapter precedes or follows another and a feeling of
repetitiousness arises out of such organizational ambiguity.
Despite these difficulties, the reader who has patience will gain insights into
the nature of the political manipulation of linguistic and religious differences which
divide India, insights which have applicability elsewhere. Nayar performs an
invaluable service by his thorough review of the complex tangle of personalities,
factions, and doctrines within the political life of Indian Punjab. Anyone con-
cerned with the general problems of nation-building or with communal politics in
any nation should find it worth his while to study this book.
ROBERT Y. FLUNO
Whitman College
Political Power and Social Change. By PETER H. ODEGARD. (New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 1966. Pp. 111. $3.50.)
Political Power and Social Change consists of three lectures delive~red at the
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, in 1965. Since the book is not
introduced with any statement of purpose, it is necessary to guess that it is intended
for &dquo;the general reader&dquo;; certainly there is little here for the political scientist-
whatever his interests or persuasions. Even if it be assumed that the lectures were
intended for an audience of non-specialists (there is nothing wrong with that, of
course), they are fraught with the sort of difficulties that are painful to see immor-
talized in print - all the more so, since they come from the pen of one who is
universally...