Editor's Introduction

• Author: Danny L. Balfour
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12740
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017

Book Review Editor’s Introduction 297

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 2, pp. 297. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12740.

Book Review

Editor’s

Introduction

T he two reviews in this edition of Public

Administration Review look at starkly

contrasting views of the U.S. political

economy. In his extensive review and analysis of Jane

Mayer ’ s Dark Money , Curtis Ventriss highlights the

numerous issues associated with the unprecedented

infusion of money into the political process and how

it comes from and benefits a select few individuals

and corporations, most notably Koch Industries and

its sibling owners. The combination of the Citizens

United Supreme Court decision in 2010 and the

intense concentration of wealth in the top 1% of

the population has created a scenario in which the

wealthy few can exert a degree of influence that

effectively upends democracy. While for many years

the phrase “run government like a business” has

been a (contested) part of the public administration

narrative, we are well into an era, especially given the

results of the 2106 election, when one might conclude

that government is now being run for business, or at

least for a specific ideological view of the relationship

between business and government, and to protect and

promote the interests of the top 1%—a new Gilded

Age. We have yet to see what these trends mean for

democracy and the public service, but one has to

wonder what it will mean to be in the public service

(and who will be attracted to it) as it becomes more

explicitly a matter of serving private interests and great

wealth.

Dan Immergluck ’ s review of Evicted , by Matthew

Desmond, provides a very different perspective on

U.S. society: the economic insecurity experienced by

a growing proportion of the population and the sad

reality of eviction and homelessness. As Immergluck

points out, Evicted is not just a rant against social

injustice, but a careful and insightful ethnographic

study of life in the inner city, looking not only at

those facing eviction but also at the landlords and

their agents who collect rents and evict those who

cannot pay. Eviction from one ’ s home, which was

once an exceptional event that shook communities’

collective consciousness, has become normalized

and widespread in the post-Great Recession era.

Immergluck holds out hope that Desmond ’ s study

will help to energize available policy actions and

generate more housing options for vulnerable renters,

and Desmond ’ s narrative certainly has the power to

move both the mind and emotions. While it may

be a bit too optimistic to hope for, perhaps some of

the billions of dark money dollars flowing into the

political system on behalf of the wealthy can one day

be spent on making sure that all citizens have access to

at least the basics of the good life.

Danny L. Balfour

Grand Valley State University