Choice Review

King and Stivers have written a public administration polemic intended to account for the antigovernment attitudes they see as characteristic of contemporary politics. The authors begin, as did their forebears in the "New Public Administration" movement some 30 years ago, with an effort to "shift attention in our field away from its fixation on efficiency, professionalism, objectivity, and neutrality." However, while New Public Administrationists urged that basic administrative values such as efficiency and accountability be replaced by social equity and proactive administrative representation of oppressed groups, King and Stivers emphasize citizen involvement as an alternative organizing principle of administration. Genuine citizen participation and better bureaucratic "listening" will, according to the authors, create a more positive and consensual administrative state. The most problematic element of their theme is the assumption that extensive citizen participation in administration creates consensus; exhaustive experience with everything from school choice to farm price supports to welfare reform makes it clear that citizen participation rarely eliminates or even reduces genuine conflict over divisive policies. Surprisingly, King and Stivers decided not to address these current controversies. Nevertheless, the book is well written and presents an argument that should be familiar to students, scholars, and reformers. All levels. M. E. Ethridge; University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee