Booknotes

• Date: 01 February 2004
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00353.x
• Published date: 01 February 2004

Booknotes 121

The material in Booknotes is based

on information obtained either from

publishers or from the books them-

selves. Authors and publishers inter-

ested in having their books included

in Booknotes or considered for review

should send two copies to the book

review editor. Books listed in this sec-

tion may be included in a book review

essay later.

Adshead, Maura, and Michelle

Millar, eds. 2003. Public Administra-

tion and Public Policy in Ireland:

Theory and Practice. New York:

Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-28242-X.

Drawing on a wide range of theo-

ries, this book discusses various

issues of Irish politics, public

administration, and public

policy. The contributors examine

agro-environmental policy, the

politics of morality, homeless-

ness, the politics of gender, so-

cial partnerships, policy net-

works, and globalization from

diverse theoretical perspectives,

including Marxism, corporatism,

feminism, rational choice theory,

and institutionalism.

Berry, Jeffrey M., and David F.

Arons. 2003. A Voice for Nonprofits.

Washington, DC: Brookings Institu-

tion Press. ISBN: 0-8157-0912-9.

Using data collected from a na-

tional mail survey of nonprofits

and from complementary inter-

views of executive directors and

selected specialists, this book

finds that American nonprofits

are ignorant of the basic laws

governing their operations and

only weakly engaged in the gov-

ernmental process. This igno-

rance of the law combined with

the poor lobbying efforts of

nonprofits results in the effective

silencing of their marginalized

constituents.

Box, Richard. 2003. Public Admin-

istration and Society: Critical Issues

in American Governance. Armonk,

NY: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN: 0-7656-

0825-1.

Booknotes

An introductory textbook that

addresses the social, political,

and historical context of public

administration and service, this

volume conveys, in particular,

the significance of social context

for the practical side of public

administration. Following a

comprehensive introduction, the

author discusses basic issues

such as the debates in the found-

ing era, the community and in-

dividuals, social equity and eco-

nomic efficiency, and public

service practitioners in a demo-

cratic society.

Braman, Sandra, ed. 2003. Com-

munication Researchers and Policy-

Making. Boston, MA: MIT Press.

ISBN: 0-262-52340-X.

Dealing with the interconnection

of communication research and

policy making, this book in-

cludes sections on (1) policy as

a research context; (2) the rela-

tionships between communica-

tion research and policy makers;

and (3) the roles of communica-

tion researchers as public intel-

lectuals. It concludes that com-

munication and policy making

enjoy a very close relationship

and share vast areas of policy.

Grant, Jane A. 2003. Community,

Democracy, and the Environment:

Learning to Share the Future. Lan-

ham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

ISBN: 0-7425-2615-1.

Considering significant changes

in community and the American

polity, the author demonstrates

the need for a wider and more

deliberative policy forum where

citizens can share their values

and perspectives on environmen-

tal policies. Such a policy forum

may be built around the frame-

work of sustainable develop-

ment. Using three examples—

deliberation over the location of

a hazardous waste landfill in the

Midwest, U.S. environmental

energy policy, and global climate

change—the book examines po-

tential applications of a delibera-

tion model at the local, national,

and international level.

Greenberg, David, Donna Linksz,

and Marvin Mandel. 2003. Social

Experimentation and Public Policy-

making. Washington, DC: Urban In-

stitute Press. ISBN: 0-87766-711-X.

Based on five detailed case stud-

ies, this book demonstrates the

importance of social experi-

ments, both their usefulness and

practical policy effects. After

providing a comprehensive over-

view of social experimentation

and a conceptual framework, the

authors examine five social ex-

periments (those involving

RAND health insurance, nurs-

ing-home incentive reimburse-

ment, income maintenance, the

unemployment insurance bonus,

and welfare to work) and judge

them according to definitiveness,

timeliness, communication and

visibility, generalizability, and

relevance.

Gunningham, Neil, Robert A.

Kagan, and Dorothy Thornton. 2003.

Shades of Green: Business, Regula-

tion, and Environment. Stanford, CA:

Stanford University Press. ISBN: 0-

8047-4852-7.

Examining the pulp and paper

industry in four countries (the

United States, Canada, Australia,

and New Zealand), the authors

conducted an in-depth empirical

study in order to understand the

variation in compliance with en-

vironmental regulation at the

firm level. They found that firms

achieve particular levels of en-

vironmental performance not

simply because of environmen-

tal regulation, but because of the

interaction between tightening

regulations and other internal or

external factors, such as social

pressure from the community

and environmental activists, and

environmental management

style in society.