Berry Books

Gerald Posner takes time off from his career as a mealy-mouthed, Intelligence approved conspiracy "expert" to write about Motown. As usual, his facts are skewed & large portions of his work is cribbed from other sources. Ho-hum...

I have read and own more books than I can possibly count about Motown and its artisit. This book was a "BIG DISAPPOINTMENT". On page 307, it was stated that David Ruffin died in Detroit. He died in Phiadelphia and I remember the incident so well because I was visiting my mom, who lived in Philadelphia when the news flash came on TV finally identifying him. He had been a "John Doe" until they finally found out who he really was. I'm so sorry I bought this book. It wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The author should have gotten many of his facts straight.

This book was nothing more than a collection of excerpts from other peoples (auto)biographies.That's it. Since he was unable to obtain interviews with any of the subjects,perhaps the author thought that putting in court documents would give the book some credibility....uh, no!

I'm happy that I didn't spend the money to buy it in its Hardcover edition(it was a gift), though I have to live with it collecting dust in my cellar!

I see from a number of reviewers for this book that one of the complaints is that this book is a rehash of the same information available elsewhere - ie. legal documents, books from other authors, etc.
Well, many of the books cited as reference are no longer available. Legal documents might be available for public viewing - if you have the time and resources to do your own investigation. I think the author did an excellent job of compiling the information and presenting it in an enjoyable to read format.
I read this book and "The Motown Music Machine" at the same time. Though the other book might be considered more authoritative based on the authors personal experience within Motown, I don't believe that it tells the full story. Afterall, how can one man know all about the business and employees? He can't, which makes Mr Posner's book that much more interesting. It's told from an overall perspective with input from many sources.
Many readers have seen the information in this book in other books or articles. Well I haven't and I enjoyed reading about it in one handy, convenient place.

For someone who has not read any other book on Motown, this book is provides a tremendous insight into the mega corporation: it's rise, power, entertainers, unsavory practices, lawsuits, legalities and the end of Motown.

Chronological timeframe
What you get here is a complete timeframe from the "Hitsville" building, the upstart of performers, the maintenance, the drugs, alcohol, bickering of performers and executive staff. There is an insight and understanding how the music industry works, how songs are selected for "hits"; We are educated on the distribution of records and its practices. It seems clear that if a record company was not gypping entertainers, something was not done right.

Lawsuits, battles, downfalls
Also explained is how and when entertainers and staff deflected to other companies. We are given a clear explanation of the struggles within the Supremes and the birth of the supergroup, The Jackson 5, the rise and fall of Marvin Gaye, success of Stevie Wonder, Berry Gordy's bond with Smokey Robinson of the Miracles, infighting, lawsuits, etc., etc.

Much is written about the love affair of Diana Ross and Berry Gordy, and her bitter relationship with other Motown performers.

The book also details the trials and tribulations of the 25th Anniversary Television show, where Michael Jackson performed the moon walk and made history.

Motown movies
It's clear that when Berry Gordy had a quest for the movie business, it would ultimately lead to neglecting the music business.

What about the SOUND of Motown
I did have one question: The Funk Brothers - the sound of Motown! There is almost nothing on the Funk Brothers.

Although receiving negative reviews for what readers called "many mistakes", I don't care if so and so had this hit first before such and such hit, or so and so went to bed with so and so instead of so and so.... I don't care if details aren't precise! A hundred years from now, I won't remember anyhow, better make that 5 minutes from now.

What mattered is that I was given a complete and chonological timeframe about the legacy of Motown. I had not read another book, and may not read another book. Simple as that!...MzRizz

The opening chapters do give a reasonable introduction to the subject of International relations and there is a fairly objective account of the Vietnam War in Chapter 3, however as the book moves on to present day issues such as global terrorism and the emergence of economic blocs in the pacific and Europe you cannot help but notice an overwhelming pro-American bias. I agree with a previous reviewers comment that the subject of international relations depends on an impartial and evenhanded approach and I feel that this book fails in this respect.

Perhaps the 7th edition addresses some of the more overt opinions stated in the book, I personally would not recommend it to any teacher or student thinking of using it to teach political science or International relations.

Got this for a required college course. Found it superbly readable. The authors don't write like textbook authors. They write like reporters who like to dig deep.

If you're a news junky, get this book. If you're assigned it for college, be happy.

I bought this book for my JHU:CTY International Politics class. The teacher warned that it had a bit of a conservative, pro-American bias, and he most defiantly was right. However, while slightly glossed over for the sake of brevity, the book's facts are good. In terms of the political slant, it is less a mater of manipulating facts and more a case of the authors injecting their own viewpoints into the text. As long as you read the authors' conclusions with a slight grain of salt, the book remains quite useful. And towards the other reviewer: The--at least implied--assertion that if you do not agree with this book you "hate America"(which I somewhat resent), along with the concept that you will like this book if you are a conservative-leaning centrist, is quite unfounded. It really is a matter of personal preference. In my class people from all sides of the political spectrum all had varying feelings about the book, more or less independent of political affiliation.

The New World of International Relations is a good introductory book to the field of Political Science and International Relations. It presents information in a general and an understandably American way. It's not overbiased, but is written by Americans for American political views, general knowledge and understanding of current events, etc. It provides a good start for those who are looking for a good start into the ever-expanding knowledge base of Political Science

What I like about this book is that it is short, it is readable, and it introduces the unitiated reader quickly and broadly to various thinkers and models of IR and does so in historical context.

I agree with the others that it definitely has some phrases which are unusual for a textbook. Random opinion, or generally unacademic phrases here and there. This is defintely a detractor, but also makes the book a bit fun.

About the perspective of the author. I personally am conservative and so I was looking for a book which would help me grasp the subject from a more conservative viewpoint than the average fare. However, I would not call it conservative, I would call the book fairly centrist. This book does viewing the world from an overtly American perspective and it also does not ignore conservative ideas such Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" model of geopolitics, but it is centrist because a true conservative for example, would give pre-eminence to Reagan's place in the cold war, this one does not.

I am not suggesting at all that if you do not like this book you "hate america" as the review below claims. There are other reasons not to like the book. However, if you do happen to be against American foreign policy, pro-UN, etc, this book will definitely upset you, as it did others below.

Berry Kercheval's book on DHCP fills a gap that has been there for several years, but has become increasingly apparent over the course of the last few years. Until now, you had to either dig into the official RFC documents if you wanted to learn about the gritty details of DHCP and related protocols or you could resort to the documentation that your vendor decided to ship -- if any. For some of the older and more established protocols, (such as ARP, UDP, TFTP, ...)helpful information

was available from books such as Richard Steven's "UNIX Network Programming".

This new book, discusses DHCP in great detail and comes with lots of relevant illustrated examples that are clearly split into both client- and server-specific cases. All of the related protocols are explained and examples are given -- albeit not with the same level of detail as for DHCP.

One highly useful chapter, lists the majority of DHCP clients and servers that are currently in use. It then goes on to provide useful tips and tricks, and points out strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncracies. It is interesting to note, that the author makes a point in keeping this chapter -- as all of the other chapters -- as independant of particular architectures (e.g. UNIX, Windows, Mac) as possible. To system adminstrators who have to deal with heterogenous networks, this is a welcome change from the majority of books on networking that are currently on the market.

I would recommend "A Guide to Dynamic Tcp/Ip Network Configuration" to anybody who needs to learn more about the internals of the DHCP protocol. It is invaluable to people implementing their own DHCP software; administrators configuring DHCP clients and servers will find relevant background information that will prove crucial once a DHCP installation needs to be debugged or once network topology and system configuration gets more complex than the simple cases anticipated by vendors of DHCP software; and finally, anybody who always wanted to know what made their computers tick, will find Berry Kercheval's book a very readable and gentle introduction into a complex subject matter.

I purchased this book on the way to the airport in transit to yep, fixing a distributed DHCP server problem. I found a great deal of useful information in the book, and after having read the book, I am considered an expert among most mortals.

The book successfully turns the RFCs on the subject into readable text, and liberal use of footnotes are there to explain some of the more esoteric notions, and shows packet formation, which is a valuable visual aid.

Unfortunately, I also found an unacceptable number of editing errors. Kercheval (author) has done a very good job with presenting the information, but the editor missed a lot. The book was edited by Radia Perlman (says so on the back cover), and I have to say if I see his/her/its name on other books as editor, I'll have to pass.

This book has a lot of usefulness in it, but the errors in editing are glaring if you know anything at all about networking. Normally, I wouldn't be too upset about typos, but in technical works one wrong character can change the entire meaning of whatever point is being made. My technical writing professor in college would have flunked this editor in a heartbeat.

I forwarded a list of my concerns to both the author and the publisher. Kercheval was interested in them, the publisher did not fill my heart with warm fuzzies, or even acknowledge receipt. A simple "Thank You" would have been nice. A next edition with the corrections would be fantastic.

If you want the guts of DHCP, and you need it now, go ahead and by this edition. If you can wait til Prentice Hall gets it right, then buy the next edition. Personally, if I were Kercheval, I'd be majorly P.O.ed... Can you sue a publisher for malpractice?

I bought this book in hopes in would help me understand dhcp for the mcse exams. Well, I was wrong. $45 down the drain. This book has no more information than any of the other tcp/ip books on the subject of dhcp. Dont let the dollar price fool you into thinking your getting a good book. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in this book.

There is no depth, and the writer constantly sits on the fence during technical discussion. Additionally, there is no information regarding how specific packages deploy the protocols.

This book gives a good overview of dhcp in the first 5 or 6 chapters but is definately not a "definitive guide". The trouble is I really felt a lot of detail was left out.

After about page 60 (halfway thru the book if you dont count the appendices) things really started to get a bit light on detail. The SINGLE chapter on configuring dhcp servers covered how define multiple addresss ranges but seemed to skip the details of how to get the server to choose which range to allocate to a particular client. The chapters on DDNS and LDAP seemed to do little more than say what DDNS and LDAP are.

I will say that the appendices do contain useful information (a list of the DHCP options and a copy of 4 key RFCs) but this is all information easily obtained over the internet.

All in all I was disappointed with this book. It would have been a good $20-$25 intro book. It is not in my opinion a good buy if you are looking for a definitive guide.

This book is not even worth reading. Although I do believe most of Barbara's tales about Johnnie's philandering, I don't buy her mostly negative and one-sided story. Her story about chronic domestic abuse is not very convincing because she only cites about one or two alleged incidents where this might have occurred. If anything Johnnie was fighting this woman to stay out of his life and recognize when a relationship has ended. At one point in the book she even mentioned her own daughter wanted her to get back with him. Why the heck would her own daughter want her to go back with him if he is such a monster? It is obvious to me that she was just using him for his money and would not divorce because she had more to lose and was upset that he was with a "white" woman. In fact, the real reason why she left him is because Johnnie decided to take a cut in pay when he left his private law practice to work in the #3 position in the LA District Attorney Office. She was afraid that she would not be able to maintain her extravagant spending. This book was a real disappointment. Barbara makes a high and mighty claim about educating physically abused woman when in reality she is just trying to make a quick dollar by fabricating a bunch of stories and trying to dig up dirt where none existed. If you want a more accurate spin on the truth about their relationship, read Johnnie's book entitled " A Lawyers Life".

This book debunks the myth that every woman who's in an abusive relationship must've been raised in a trailer park with parents who beat her. It debunks the myth that all relationships where women are systematically abused take place in "poor families". The book shows that emotional abuse and abandonment matter. It shows that under the cover of wealth, a husband with a successful career can still be an abusive mate. Of all things, it shows that Johnnie's parents aided and abetted his affair with, and child with a white woman, while still married to his black wife. (Crazy family dynamic.)

The book reads well, is easy to follow, and documents one woman's journey to a point where she finally had to say "No, I can't stand this any longer -- even if I have to live in poverty." Not a given, but she finds a positive marriage after that, and you can't help but rejoice with her. A great book to read if you've ever known anyone living with someone who didn't treat them right, and wondered why they stayed.

This book is not even worth reading. Although I do believe most of Barbara's tales about Johnnie's philandering, I don't buy her mostly negative and one-sided story. Her story about chronic domestic abuse is not very convincing because she only cites about one or two alleged incidents where this might have occurred. If anything Johnnie was fighting this woman to stay out of his life and recognize when a relationship has ended. At one point in the book she even mentioned her own daughter wanted her to get back with him. Why the heck would her own daughter want her to go back with him if he is such a monster? It is obvious to me that she was just using him for his money and would not divorce because she had more to lose and was upset that he was with a "white" woman. In fact, the real reason why she left him is because Johnnie decided to take a cut in pay when he left his private law practice to work in the #3 position in the LA District Attorney Office. She was afraid that she would not be able to maintain her extravagant spending. This book was a real disappointment. Barbara makes a high and mighty claim about educating physically abused woman when in reality she is just trying to make a quick dollar by fabricating a bunch of stories and trying to dig up dirt where none existed. If you want a more accurate spin on the truth about their relationship, read Johnnie's book entitled " A Lawyers Life".

This book is not even worth reading. Although I do believe most of Barbara's tales about Johnnie's philandering, I don't buy her mostly negative and one-sided story. Her story about chronic domestic abuse is not very convincing because she only cites about one or two alleged incidents where this might have occurred. If anything Johnnie was fighting this woman to stay out of his life and recognize when a relationship has ended. At one point in the book she even mentioned her own daughter wanted her to get back with him. Why the heck would her own daughter want her to go back with him if he is such a monster? It is obvious to me that she was just using him for his money and would not divorce because she had more to lose and was upset that he was with a "white" woman. In fact, the real reason why she left him is because Johnnie decided to take a cut in pay when he left his private law practice to work in the #3 position in the LA District Attorney Office. She was afraid that she would not be able to maintain her extravagant spending. This book was a real disappointment. Barbara makes a high and mighty claim about educating physically abused woman when in reality she is just trying to make a quick dollar by fabricating a bunch of stories and trying to dig up dirt where none existed. If you want a more accurate spin on the truth about their relationship, read Johnnie's book entitled " A Lawyers Life".

I didn't expect much, coming from a non-public personality writing a "my life with..." tome. I was very pleasantly surprised. Barbara Cochran Berry is a likeable and intelligent storyteller. She shows herself to be way above the league of that (in my opinion) smooth-talking sociopath she married. She gives it to him straight between the eyes, but in a restrained manner, which only adds to her aura of dignity and veracity.

This is a solid, well-written book about a woman who has gone through emotional hell and come through it stronger. I would recommend it particulary to women who are themselves experiencing the pain of marital betrayal. Best of luck to her.

The book is pretty good. It focus on how you can improve the use of your brain and gives you excersises to stimulate your brain soo you can use it to a maximum level.I recomend it for people who want's to go more further and use more your brain .

The title is very misleading, and so is the book. The book begins by informing you that you only use 2, 5, or 10 percent of your brainpower (The average human mind applies 100% of it's brainpower) . This is a debunked myth that never had any scientific support and began erroneously. The author will make sure to repeat the message during the entire book, especially during the sections where he explains communication with animals without speech or tactile movement and visualization of distant objects without being in the location, he also tends to discuss energies and other useless ideas as if they were fact. Some sections that are very wary and why it makes this book undoubtedly unreadable to a scientific mind are as follows:

Exercise 11 - Positive Statement Practice
Exercise 21 - Firewalking To Embrace Fear
Exercise 53 - Imaging-Streaming
Exercise 150 - Using Self-Healing Thoughts
Exercise 107 - Electromagnetic Field Awareness
Exercise 113 - Eyeless Sight

Just to name a few sections directly from the book. I would not recommend this book for someone who wants absolute facts to strengthening the mind instead of hindering it. There may be an amount of useful topics as well, but you would be better suited in buying a more popularized book on the subject, written by authors who understand the subject inside out and have a no nonsense style of writing. The 100% Brain Course is riddled with religious insight and pseudoscientific ideas and will distribute them all as facts. I do not recommend this book.

This book promises many things, from utilizing simple visualization and mnemonics to doing more controversial and admittedly miraculous things, such as seeing without your eyes.

Upon skimming the book, it seems quite daunting as to how much is effective and where to start. I found it quite interesting that Mr. Saunders often makes historical refrences [As in Exersise 98: Body Temperature Control] to compound on his theories and exercises.

Several skeptics maintain that many of the things proposed in this book are in fact ineffective and simply made-up, but others often support the idea that we don't truly know the limits of our natural capabilities, or that we are capable of miraculous things.

I would like to also stress that what works for one person doesn't always work for everyone. Many people often practice an exercise for a short period of time and quickly become jaded with the work after it producing little or no apparent or immediate results. I feel that I must stress that little effort often results in little gain, and that perserverance is a key trait to have when learning any new skill.

If you're willing to go out on a limb and try something different then this is the course for you. This book isn't for [or, I believe, intended for] the close-minded or for those simply seeking a magic bullet.

I agree with Christina Mayle. I read this book some years ago and feel the author didn't really interview or research thoroughly for himself the people being written about. As far as I'm concerned there is no such group as "tri racial isolates". We lived in a community and interacted to an extent with the surrounding community. He makes the people in the book as something out of the ordinary, when most people are more than one race or nationality. I am related to both the Mayle's and the Menerd's.
I gave it one star, mainly because it is a book that can be read and people can see how bias others can be. And yes, we are Native American.

i thought that this book is definately written in the age of ignorance. the idea of a race of people that is so isolated at the time hits home for me. my family is one of the "MAYLE" clan, so to speak, and this book was appauling. granted it gave some of the factual events and information but at the same time the author did not give accounts of the people themselves. it was treated as if this was an experiment. he should have gotten ALL of the facts before he wrote. some of the people that the author wrote about are actually native american (cheroke and pittsburg blackfoot). they were neither white or black and never really claimed to be either. as being a mayle myself, this book is a real dishonor to our family and all of our ancestors that delt with the same ignorance.

I am so glad I got this book. For years I had been in ethnic limbo. I had always played white on government forms. My sister has told people we were from Italy. For the first time in this book I read about and saw people who look like me. It got me interested in my culture. I now refuse to be called white.
How many books can change a persons life in that way?I do not feel so lost or alone. Anyone who looks in the mirror and sees an almost white face should read this book.

This book was a great improvement over its previous edition. I am not sure why other would give it a bad review just because it is available online. I like having the real book next to me as I am doing my development. This is one of the better technical books I have encountered.

I agree completly with the comments above, a large portion of this book is just a reprint of pdf's included with the package (Typos and All). It is difficult to find good documentation on the process of developing dreamweaver extensions and this book does not go very far in rectifying that problem. Laura Gutman's book on the same subject is a little older, but at least it is not a reprint.

This book was purchased with the belief that in this book was something extra or to be read in addition to their online documentation. Under the book description you can see it says that it includes the following books from the Macromedia online documentation. In reality, this book doesn't include them - but contains them. That's all you get here. The freely available PDF files in a book format with nothing added and nothing removed. A disappointment from a company like Macromedia that they wouldn't offer further information on the developing process for extending one of their flagship products.

My children love reading all the books in the Joy Berry series. She has a style that makes the reader feel comfortable with their own feelings, allowing them to see that other children share these feelings as well. I would reccommend them for most any child, but especailly for those children who have difficulty putting their emotions into words.

I bought this book to read to my children, ages 6 and 3. I assumed that it would be written on a child's level because it is illustrated and sold as a child's book. My children lost interest by the middle of the book. I lost interest. This book was preachy, not charming. It seems written more to the adult who is reading it then to the child it should be reaching. I have not liked any of the books in the series.

Like so many law students, I have an externship this summer. Yay! Like so many law students I have a boring class that accompanies that externship. Boo! This book is the textbook for that snooze of a class.

The book is good. It would be very helpful to at least read the first few chapters before you start that way you avoid making the common mistakes that seem to plague first time externs. I will admit to making such mistakes since we didn't get around to reading relevant sections of the book until it was too late.

The book is only as good as the timing of when you read it. It isn't a page turner to begin with, but it is better than a casebook. Huzzah for variety. Have a great summer job.

This text blows. It is so dumbed down that I find it more excruciating to read 10 pages in this than 100 pages of Con Law. It gets an extra star because it is paperback.

Jeffrey Berry shows why reports of the demise of the progressive wing of the political Left are greatly exaggerated. In this book, he explains how an expanding coalition of grassroots-oriented activist groups is building steam and coming to dominate debates about regulatory issues in Washington. He also addresses reasons why conservative groups encounter difficulty when attempting to address this phenomenon.

He begins his introduction by pointing out that citizens groups, defined to be "lobbyists who mobilize members, donors, and activists around interests other than their own vocation or profession," are now the engine powering the progressive cause. He wastes no time before explaining the special relationships these groups build with legislators, regulators, and members of the media. He cites the role of the National Resources Defense Council in the Alar scare of 1989 as an obvious example of how easily these groups can influence television reporters and, more importantly, public opinion.

In discussing the impressive ability of citizens groups to obtain slots at congressional hearings, Berry focuses on their long-term efforts to demand hearings in the first place. It is logical to expect analysts who succeed in obtaining hearings to be among the individuals asked to testify. In addition, he cites the decentralization of authority within the Congress itself and the proliferation of congressional subcommittees as a means through which citizens groups can shop around their policy proposals to find sympathetic ears and, thus, congressional audiences. Most importantly, he states that there is nothing magic about the tactics they employ to exert influence.

Berry claims that environmentalists are the most powerful members of the citizens groups' coalition. He documents how environmental organizations were able to crush ten of the twelve major environmental initiatives undertaken by the 104th Congress in 1995. As a stunning example of their ability to influence the media, he points out that ABC's prime-time coverage of the Republican proposal to limit environmental takings contained a critique of the bill by a Sierra Club analyst, but did not feature a rebuttal from Republicans or market-based organizations. In addition, he cites the difficulties encountered by representatives of businesses when they must respond to accusations from environmental groups and explain complex statistical concepts to the media in terms that members of the public can understand.

While discussing reasons why members of Congress fear environmental groups, he points out that their enormous memberships can force legislators to dilute their concerns about the harm that most environmental legislation inflicts on job creation. In citing Mancur Olson's theory of interest group dynamics, he claims that environmental groups overcome the selective benefits requirement for group formation by identifying and recruiting individual members who feel strongly about their desires for stringent regulations. Therefore, to an extent, environmental groups depend on a public education system that serves as an outlet through which they can further promote their viewpoints and recruit new members.

Berry concludes his work by demonstrating an impressive understanding of why market-based organizations encounter so much difficulty when combating environmentalists. In his scalding analysis, he emphasizes the cash-starved status of many free-market groups and the need for more focused policy research.

While Berry does not hit every ball out of the park, (his characterization of advocacy-oriented think-tanks as mere corporate fronts lacking a firm philosophical foundation is shallow and vindictive at best), he does an outstanding job explaining how the progressive movement has evolved to reclaim its dominance of Washington. Individuals interested in understanding the dynamics of this new generation of progressive organizations should pay close attention to his analysis.

Jeffery M. Berry's study makes the case that congressional policy has shifted from responding to material concerns of economic equality to responding to "postmaterial" or what he calls "quality-of-life" concerns. He traces the path of legislative initiatives in congress during sessions coinciding with the years 1963, 1979, and 1991. He attributes the rise of postmaterialism as a policy motive to the actions of what he calls "citizen groups." He claims that the investigative value of postmaterialism is that it "challenges our common notions of liberal and conservative. [49]" Liberalism, of which a "new" incarnation lends the titular impetus to Berry's work, is seldom defined directly. Rather it is reified in absentia, as the definitional agency behind the result of Berry's study. By exploring another curiously ill-defined term, that of the "citizen group," as a "lobbying organization," I hope to arrive at a clearer understanding of the author's deployment of liberalism.

The deployment of a rhetoric of citizenship contradicts the author's assertion that "this study is restricted to policymaking in Congress [2]" and how postmaterialism has "fared there." A citizen is by definition a political subject in a functional political process that by covenant translates that subjecthood into a functional policy apparatus. It is therefore debatable whether or not the strictly defined "citizen" is operative in her citizenship capacity outside of her function as an input in a clearly delineated apparatus, an apparatus which in Berry's context can be broadly referred to as elected government.

In focusing on congress, the policy superset of elected government, the author urges the reader not to confuse his conclusions on postmaterialism with phenomena such as "state-level politics [or] public opinion." Yet congress is only renderable in relation to its political citizen-subjects within a delineated political apparatus. If input-individuals are political subjects of elected government beyond a judicially delineated electoral process, the author ought to define an extra-judicial political apparatus and assert that this, rather than the judicially delineated apparatus of elected government, has shaped the policy priorities of elected government and constituted an extra-judicial citizenship input.

A problem arises in that Berry seeks to have his cake and eat it, too. In order to imbue his research with credibility across the widest intellectual readership, Berry takes a neutral stance on the mythos and ethos of American government. One such salient myth, on which much scholarship is founded and on which the author takes no stance, is that the judicially delineated political apparatus of elected government is the prevailing mode of policy agency for its citizen-subjects. In other words, the author refrains from critiquing and perhaps de-legitimizing the very domain of his thesis; American government.

The author romanticizes as citizens individuals who are not clearly acting in a capacity as political subject-inputs within a delineated apparatus of government. While members of lobbying organizations may be citizen-subjects in other capacities, in the capacity by which these organizations affect policy their members are not citizen-inputs or political subjects in judicially delineated elected government.

Berry's thesis is that the policy adopted by elected government is increasingly determined through agency outside of elected government, and most certainly outside of elected government as the apparatus would be rendered by canonical Political Science. Almost as if to apologize to conservative scholars in his own field, the author assures us that even if the policy of elected government is now determined outside of elected government, the agency of this determination incidentally falls on some citizen-subjects of elected government.

This is how the "lobbying organization" magically becomes the "citizen group." Agency which de-legitimizes elected government is couched in a rhetoric that upholds it. What would be truly novel is if the author modeled a radical resituating of citizenship consistent with the implicit extra-electoral apparatus that supercedes the citizen's agency in elected government.

The author's slippery slope suggests that he would like to make the argument that postmaterialism was somehow a grass-roots initiative. This is despite his tightly proscribed subject of congressional policy. It is as though because his thesis has a massive potential to undermine popular renditions of rational choice theory and liberal individualism, he resorts to fantastic contortion to make his theory intelligible within them. One wonders if the author himself has been compromised by the new left and the post-materialist trends he purports to study.

Berry goes to inordinate lengths to emphasize lobbying organizations as citizen-constituted, as though citizenship within the delivered promise of the American electoral apparatus is inert and to be taken for granted. The outcome is that Berry engages citizenship and government as anesthetizing catchall platitudes rather than glaring and unconfronted problematics in his scholarship. The liberal individual is out of luck in the author's non-rendition government. She is operatively both the political subject of an ill-defined apparatus involving lobbying organizations that dictates the prevailing policies which juxtapose the covenant of her citizenship, and the alleged political subject of a judicially delineated electoral process and its resulting government. Rather than reconcile the fundamental question of ambiguous sovereignty, the author's head is resolutely beneath the sand, rightly confident that the enthymematic juggernaut of prevailing truth aesthetics will bail him out of the lonely cell of critical inquiry amidst the cacophonous salutation of more reputable and jingoistic locales.