Book Reviews : The Ideological Revolution in the Middle East. By LEONARD BINDER. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1964. Pp. x, 287. $6.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296401700418
• Published date: 01 December 1964
• Date: 01 December 1964
• Subject Matter: Articles

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plores the tendency of the press &dquo;to gravitate to officialdom&dquo; but his book demon-
strates again and again the power exerted by the congressional leadership. This
power gives weight to the leaders’ pronouncements and it is not surprising that press
coverage reflects this fact. In any case, the subtleties and complexities so ably ana-
lyzed by Professor Berman are not likely to entrance the readers of the mass dailies
and are probably outside the routine reporting responsibilities of even the New York
Times.
Occasionally Berman abandons scholarly detachment in favor of sharp editorial
comment. Perhaps Lyndon Johnson deserves blame for his share in the failure of the
Senate to adopt a rule making it easier for a majority to terminate debate; but he is
not the first, nor the last, politician to vote his constituency; and the successful im-
position of cloture in June 1964, may give a slightly different perspective to an eval-
uation of Johnson’s role in the civil rights revolution.
In a footnote Berman says, &dquo;In 1950, President Truman committed the United
States to one of the bloodiest wars in its history without even requesting congres-
sional authorization, on the interesting semantic ground that the Korean conflict
was not a war but rather a ’police action.’ &dquo; This is language one expects in a cam-
paign pamphlet; it reflects little credit on a scholar and perhaps that is why it goes
unnoted in the index entry of &dquo;Truman, Harry S.&dquo;
The excellent study of Committee Clearance of Administrative Decisions re-
ferred to in several footnotes is by William -
not Walter -
E. Rhode. The author
is correctly identified in the eight-page list of books about Congress compiled by Mr.
Berman.
No doubt other errors of commission and omission could be listed; but despite
these it must be said, not because it is good form but because it is true, that Professor
Daniel Berman has written another valuable work. In Congress Assembled is an
obvious...