American Public Policy: An Introduction

Rating:
Summary: Personal Bias cheapens the book
Review: I have read this book for a class, and was particularly unimpressed with the positions on civil rights (Chapter 11). Although the focus of this chapter(as with other chapters) was never how the authors personally felt about various issues and policy areas, reading this chapter alone would not tell you that. Ironically in a chapter about discrimination and stereotypes, there are plenty of generalizations.

Even though the authors grasped the idea of African American equality, they remark that "The creation of a more favorable public perception of efforts to alter the status of women is perhaps impede by the fact that the National Organization for Women (NOW) is regarded by many as being outside the American mainstream and dominated by extremists"(371)The authors then try and backpeddle by assuring readers that "In general, most major women's organizations do not take a negative stance against men"(372)The idea that the two verbatim quotes can actually be included in a professional allegedly netural work is beoynd disbelief.

Furthermore, the subsection on Disability is prefaced as victims. It fails to acknowllege that each of these subgroups (like women and African Americans) also had a role in their own respective struggles.

Key legislation and court cases concerning disabled children's right to a free appropriate public education is omitted, and the authors snidely reference "claims of learning disabilities"(378) Considering that the authors are teaching at public institutions, one must wonder what planet they have been living on for the past 20 years.

Gone completely is a discussion of the Asian American and Chicano rights movement. Native Americans and GLBT rights are squeezed in as an afterthought, which is particularly ironic given the current very visible presence of that movement.

I sympathize deeply with any student who has to read this textbook and urge you to do further research when you get to Chapter 10. I urge professors and faculty (if they have not do so already) to look for another book. While my public policy class turned out fairly well in spite of this book, others shouldn't have to repeat the same path if possible.