Customer Reviews

American Public Policy: Promise and Performance, 7th Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Guy Peter's "American Public Policy: Promise and Performance" provides an informed and unbiased look at the public policy process as well as a number of major policy issues in America today. It's perhaps not the most exciting read (the first few chapters are especially dull) but thats more the fault of the subject than the author. However, if you are inclined to learn more about how the policy that affects our lives every day comes to be, this is worth a read.

The chapters on tax policy, health care and education were particularly good. In all, the book features a discussion of the aforementioned issues, as well as economic policy, social security and welfare, environmental policy, energy policy, defense and law enforcement, and numerous social issues such as abortion. American Public Policy also features a detailed look at how policy is formulated, enacted and kept up, as well as how one analyzes the effects of a particular policy plan. Finally, the book provides a look at the two predominate forms of policy analysis and assessment: cost-benefit analysis and ethical analysis.

Overall, I wouldnt recommend this book for fun reading. However, if you are taking a course in American public policy, are looking to research a prominent public policy area, or just want to learn more about the American policy system, Guy Peter's "American Public Policy: Promise and Performance" is definitely a great place to start.

You would not know that this was a used book. It arrived just like a new book. There was not even one page underlined or highlighted.

I read this book for one of my public policy class. Peter's book summarizes the key issues in a lot of areas of public policy. The book provided a good history in different topics of interest and then provided a good summary of the key debates and controversies in those topics. I found myself constantly doing more research on topics that interested me. My one major complaint is that at points the book got very dry, but that's more a reflection of my inability to sit down for long than of the quality of the book.
My one minor complaint is a source he cited for the Energy and Environment chapter. He says on page 382, "Only about 10 percent of [toxic waste] is disposed of safely." If you look at the citation in the back, it is from a 1985 publication. Highly dated!
But overall, I'd say get this book because you'll learn a lot.

It's a very hard book to get through, but I'm not sure there is any way to make a public policy book better. It appears to cover everything at least on a basic introduction to public policy level.