The Brittle Mandate: Electoral Dealignment and the 1980 Presidential Election
Everett Carll Ladd examines the behavior of the U.S. electorate in the 1980 presidential election within the context of the long-standing argument over whether party "realignment" is occurring. He concludes that it is not realignment but the continued progress of "dealignment" that gives the 1980 election its distinctive cast.

Do Congressional Liberals Really Need to Tremble? A Quick Look at Some Hard Data
Demetrios Caraley does a quick analysis of the 1980 congressional election returns and concludes that liberal members of Congress did not suffer disproportionally large erosion of support.

The Origins of Massive Retaliation
Samuel F. Wells, JR., examines the popular understanding of the concept of massive retaliation and its refinement in the early months of the Eisenhower administration. He shows that the Truman administration had developed both the doctrine and the defense programs that formed the basis of its successor's new declaratory policy.

Changes in American Voter Turnout, 1964-1976
Thomas E. Cavanagh discusses the changes in the demographic patterns of American voter participation since 1964. He finds that the recent turnout decline has been concentrated among lower-status groups in the population and suggests that this trend may be related to changes in the power of various interest groups to control the political agenda.

The Centralizing Effects of Austerity on the Intergovernmental System
Charles H. Levine and Paul L. Posner argue that federal grants to state and local governments have eroded the autonomy of such governments, and that that erosion is being accelerated because of the problems of fiscal retrenchment.

Boston's Kevin White: A Mayor Who Survives
Martha Wagner Weinberg chronicles the career of Boston Mayor Kevin White and relates the reasons for White's survival in an era when modem mayors seem doomed to short tenure in office. She concludes that even electorally successful mayors must engage in a delicate and high-stakes balancing act in seeking and holding onto political power.

The Social Bases of an Urban Political Machine: The Case of Palermo
Judith Chubb discusses the bases of support for an urban political machine in Palermo, Italy. She concludes that the strength of the machine does not depend primarily upon the quantity of resources that it distributes but rather in its domination of virtually all transactions between the citizen and public power.

Legislatures and the Survival of Political Systems: A Review Article
Joel Smith, Lloyd D. Musolf

Why the Poor Get Richer and the Rich Slow Down, W. W. Rostow
Reviewed by Lester C. Thurow

Farm and Food Policy: Issues of the 1980s, Don Paarlberg
Reviewed by Ross B. Talbot

Thunder on the Right: The "New Right" and the Politics of Resentment, Alan Crawford
Reviewed by James L. Sundquist

The Nature of American Politics, H. G. Nicholas
Reviewed by Stanley Kelley

The New Senate: Liberal Influence on a Conservative Institution, 1959-1972, Michael Foley
Reviewed by Robert L. Peabody

Employing the Unemployed, Eli Ginzberg
Reviewed by Richard S. Belous

The Cost of Good Intentions: New York City and the Liberal Experiment, Charles R. Morris
Reviewed by Stephen David

The State and Human Services: Organizational Change in a Political Context, Laurence E. Lynn, Jr.
Reviewed by George D. Greenberg

The Truman White House: The Administration of the Presidency 1945-1953, Francis H. Heller
Reviewed by Barry D. Karl

The Presidential Election of 1916, S. D. Lovell
Reviewed by Arthur S. Link

Search for Security: Saudi Arabian Oil and American Foreign Policy, 1939 1949, Aaron David Miller
Reviewed by Mark Hamilton Lytle

Public Opinion: Coalitions, Elites, and Masses, Harry Holloway and John George
Reviewed by Scott Keeter

Promise and Performance: Choosing and Implementing an Environmental Policy, Alfred A. Marcus
Reviewed by Laura M. Lake

Science Advice to the President: A Special Issue of Technology in Society, William T. Golden
Reviewed by Sanford A. Lakoff

Conflict and Conflict Management, Joseph S. Himes
Reviewed by Lewis A. Coser

"Bigotry!" Ethnic, Machine, and Sexual Politics in a Senatorial Election, Maria J. Falco
Reviewed by Rita W. Cooley

The Communist Party and the Auto Workers Unions, Roger Keeran
Reviewed by Norman D. Markowitz

Memphis Since Crump: Bossism, Blacks, and Civic Reformers, 1948-1968, David M. Tucker
Reviewed by Alexander Heard

Judicial Review and the National Political Process: A Functional Reconsideration of the Role of the Supreme Court, Jesse H. Choper
Reviewed by Henry J. Abraham

Reasoning about Discrimination: The Analysis of Professional and Executive Work in Federal Antibias Programs, Richard A. Lester
Reviewed by Elinor G. Barber

At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present, Carl N. Degler
Reviewed by Jessie Bernard

Unloving Care: The Nursing Home Tragedy, Bruce C. Vladeck
Reviewed by Charles J. Hynes

Citizen Participation in the Public Schools, Robert H. Salisbury
Reviewed by Christine H. Rossell

The Political Culture of the American Whigs, Daniel Walker Howe
Reviewed by Richard L. McCormick

Democracy and Distrust: A Theory of Judicial Review, John Hart Ely
Reviewed by Donald M. Roper

Urban Fiscal Stress: A Comparative Analysis of 66 U.S. Cities, James M. Howell and Charles F. Stamm
Reviewed by Charles F. Adams

The CIA and the American Ethic: An Unfinished Debate, Ernest W. Lefever and Roy Godson
Reviewed by Richard E. Morgan

Technological Terrorism, Richard C. Clark
Reviewed by Bennett Ramberg

Threat Perception in International Crisis, Raymond Cohen
Reviewed by Thomas W. Milburn

In Defence of Canada, vol. 4: Growing Up Allied, James G. Eayrs
Reviewed by Charles F. Doran

West German Foreign Policy: 1949-1979, Wolfram F. Hanrieder
Reviewed by Gerard Braunthal

Italy in Transition: Conflict and Consensus, Sidney Tarrow and Peter Lange
Reviewed by Anthony F. Greco

Public Policy in a No-Party State: Spanish Planning and Budgeting in the Twilight of the Franquist Era, Richard Gunther
Reviewed by Stanley G. Payne

Political Development and Social Change in Libya, Omar I. El Fathaly and Monte Palmer
Reviewed by Lisa S. Anderson