Book Reviews : Smoking and Politics: Policy Making and the Federal Bureaucracy. By A. LEE FRITSCHLER. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969)

• Author: Robert S. Lorch
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297002300416
• Published date: 01 December 1970
• Date: 01 December 1970
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.

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ties and administrative inadequacies of our multi-purposed and multi-jurisdictional
political system. The book may eventually be regarded as a classic analysis of the
promise-performance gap, the shortfall between popular expectations and admin-
istrative accomplishment.
Despite high praise for the excellent execution of a difficult and near-intract-
able task, I retainend some nagging doubts about three important premises on
which the prescriptions are based. First, are we, in fact, coalescing into the single
society that Sundquist sees as the policy landmark of the 1960’s? How much con-
sensus is there on national policy goals?
Second, and closely related to the first, is the asserted need for if not the
presence of a single governmental system. The immensely increased &dquo;velocity&dquo; of
governmental activities at each level has unquestionably raised the &dquo;compression
ratio&dquo; among the various units (and officials) that are parts of the governmental
engine. The metaphor suggests a unified operating entity. But is this the...