A professor of political science at the University of Minnesota and member of the President's Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Anderson provides a readable but never simplified appraisal of the relationship between national, state and local government. He shows how the states fared under the Articles of Confederation, how their situation changed with the framing of the Constitution and with the later developments of it, when constitutionality and public policy were basic questions. He considers the roles of federal and state government, the arguments for and against state rights, and comes up with a plan to keep the present system but improve it administratively. The place of federal grants in aid, federal and state taxes; the question of centralized government and other thorny issues are given an airing with historical background to add to the picture.