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The Regulators: Anonymous Power Brokers in American Politics

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Cindy Skrzycki's weekly column titled "The Regulators" has captured the attention of readers of the Washington Post for more than a decade, uncovering the power struggles, political intrigue, special interests and legal battles that go on behind the scenes in Washington. Now, her wit and humor help make the seemingly arcane topic of regulation accessible (and even fun) for readers of her new book, The Regulators: Anonymous Power Brokers in American Politics.

The book, punctuated by some of her most interesting and amusing columns over the years, will make interesting reading for anyone interested in American politics and regulation. Skrzycki's goal in writing the book was to "take a complicated and sometimes inscrutable topic and make it a comprehensible, important lesson in government," (XII), and she succeeds. The Regulators does not provide an academic treatment of the theories of regulation nor details of legal or economic principles. Rather, it addresses the more personal side of regulation: who are these anonymous power brokers determining the legal size of holes in Swiss cheese or the definition of a breath mint? By whom are they influenced and how ubiquitous is their influence in our daily lives?

Followers of her column will be pleased to see that, like her Post stories, each chapter is humorously illustrated by Keith Bendis.

I have been reading Cindy Skrzycki's column for several years but have only now found out about this book. It's great. It not only takes previous (delicious) columns and puts them in context, it draws on public administration literature to teach you a lot more about the all encompassing administrative state - and all with humor and balance. Skrzycki knows her administrators and knows her politics. If you don't know anything about the administrative state, this is a really good place to start. If you know much about it, you'll still learn something you didn't.

Did you know that the federal government regulates the size of the holes in Swiss cheese?

Cindy Skrzycki's book "The Regulators" is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in politics, lobbying, and everything in between. It will likely lay to rest the what you learned in civics class, showing the immense power that special interests in Washington can wield. She goes far beyond portraying these legislative battles as simply "business vs. labor" or "more vs. less," focusing closely on specific tactics that interests use, such as the use of arcane Congressional procedures, the targeting of Federal agencies tasked with promulgating regulations, and a whole host of other strategies. It's impossible to understand the political process without substantive and concise cast studies to study. Skrzycki's years as a Washington Post on the "regulatory beat" make her more than up to the task of providing them for students of the political process.