Book Reviews : The Foreign Service of the United States. By W. WENDELL BLANCKÉ. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969. Pp. xii, 286. $7.95.) The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. By EDWIN M. FITCH and JOHN E. SHANKIN. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1970. Pp. xii, 226. $7.95.)

• Author: Frank T. Colon
• Date: 01 December 1970
• Published date: 01 December 1970
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297002300419
• Subject Matter: Articles

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The Foreign Service of the United States. By W. WENDELL BLANCKÉ. (New York:
Frederick A. Praeger, 1969. Pp. xii, 286. $7.95.)
The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation. By EDWIN M. FITCH and JOHN E. SHANKIN.
(New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1970. Pp. xii, 226. $7.95.)
The Civil Service Commission. By DONALD R. HARVEY. (New York: Frederick
A. Praeger, 1970. Pp. xiii, 223. $6.95.)
The Smithsonian Institution. By PAUL H. OEHSER. (New York : Frederick A.
Praeger, 1970. Pp. xiii, 275. $8.95.)
The National Science Foundation. By DOROTHY SCHAFFTER. (New York: Fred-
erick A. Praeger, 1969. Pp. xii, 278. $7.95.)
The Soil Conservation Service. By D. HARPER SIMMS. (New York: Frederick A.
Praeger, 1969. Pp. xii, 278. $7.95.)
These six books are part of an extensive series by the Praeger Publishers called
the &dquo;Praeger Library of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies&dquo; whose pur-
pose is to examine the different departments, bureaus, and agencies of the United
States government and to provide comprehensive and current source information
on the processes of the federal government. All the books have a uniform format
and are generally of the same size no matter whether the subject is as expansive
as the Foreign Service or as limited or small as the National Science Foundation.
This uniformity of size creates an immediate difhculty because not all agencies are
equally important, which forces the notable agencies to pass over prominent mat-
ters and the lesser agencies to offer more detail in order to bring the work to the
required dimension.
The series is designed with appendices, charts, tables, illustrations, and bib-
liographies and are written by former bureau chiefs. The total number of years
of government service by these career civil servants is extensive. For example, W.
Wendell Blanck6 served from 1922 to 1961 in the Foreign Service; Paul Oehser
was editor and public relations ofhcer of the Smithsonian Institution for 35 years,
1931-66; John Shankin spent 35...