A concise civics handbook that focuses a spotlight on the House's design and where its leadership does not measure up.
In the third volume in the Fundamentals of American Government series, political writer Spieler (co-author: Selecting a President, 2012) takes us on a well-organized tour of the U.S. House of Representatives and introduces the institution's inner workings and history.
The author throws into stark relief the shallowness of much news reporting about the blockages caused by bipartisanship in the House. Spieler helps enrich understanding of national-level policy debates in two ways. First, he shows the degree to which the functioning of the House is under tight control of the majority party through the speaker and the Rules Committee. Second, he draws out comparisons and differences with the Senate, where rules and procedures—such as the filibuster and supermajority vote thresholds—protect the minority. The author also provides a blow-by-blow account of the political combat and legislative maneuvering that secured the passage of President Barack Obama’s health care plan, which exemplifies how the House’s structure and rules shape debate and policy outcomes. The speaker of the House, a constitutionally defined function, is “usually” the leader of the majority party. He or she decides the agenda, and that party's control is exercised through the Rules Committee, where—unlike every other House Committee, which “roughly mirrors” the makeup of the full House—the majority party enjoys a 9-4 majority. This committee, writes Spieler, “enables the leadership of the majority party…to tightly control the manner in which legislation is debated, amended, and voted in the chamber.” Every bill presented is accompanied by its own rule. Tracing the evolution of House procedures from the era of segregation, the author shows how the Democratic Study Group worked to reform the institution. With its work completed, the group dissolved. But then came Newt Gingrich, ushering in a new phase of partisanship.
A concise civics handbook that focuses a spotlight on the House's design and where its leadership does not measure up.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-04036-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
A tenacious attempt to answer the question, “How do ordinary little human cogs make up a torture machine?”
Through the grim travails of one of Saddam Hussein’s top generals, journalist Steavenson (Stories I Stole, 2003) examines the dictator’s edifice of totalitarianism and moral corruption.
Taking her title from a verse of the Koran promising to mete out justice even to the “weight of a mustard seed,” the author weaves a fascinating account of how good men went terribly wrong. Steavenson worked as a journalist in Baghdad in 2003–04 and continued her interviews of exiled Iraqis in London and elsewhere, probing deeply into the stories of former Baath Party officials. Through a high-level Iraqi doctor who had served in the medical corps during the course of four Iraqi wars, the author was put in touch with the surviving family of Kamel Sachet, a commander of the special forces and general in charge of the army in Kuwait City during the Gulf War. The general was shot as a traitor by order of the Iraqi president in 1998. Born to an illiterate family in 1947, Sachet became a policeman and then joined the special forces, rising through the ranks to major. He distinguished himself during the Iran-Iraq war, gaining Hussein’s trust but also his occasional ire, which led to prison and torture. Sachet led the assault into Kuwait, but with the retreat and subsequent scourge by the United States, he became disillusioned with the violence and bloodshed and retired as a devout Muslim. Steavenson ably explores his and others’ obedience in fulfilling the dictator’s grisly demands, echoing works by Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi and Stanley Milgram.
A tenacious attempt to answer the question, “How do ordinary little human cogs make up a torture machine?”Pub Date: March 17, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-172178-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Collins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2009
A careful, informed analysis of the origins, progress and disposition of the complex, high-stakes legal disputes that find...
In her first book, the National Law Journal’s longtime chief Washington correspondent examines the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, seven years after the appointment of the youngest chief justice since John Marshall.
Along with her credentials as a lawyer, Coyle brings 25 years of reporting on the high court to this careful unpacking of select, enormously consequential, 5-4 decisions, supplying useful and colorful context about the litigants, lawyers, politics and legal precedent. She’s especially good on the maneuvering of various special interest groups to identify, frame and shepherd particular cases through the legal system, all with a hopeful eye toward eventual Supreme Court review. These ingredients come together most successfully in her smooth discussion of the right to bear arms at issue in Heller, the most important Second Amendment case ever, her handling of two cases emerging from the racial diversity plans of school boards in Louisville and Seattle, and her treatment of the widely controversial Citizens United, where free speech and campaign finance law collided. Perhaps the court’s recent momentous ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act accounts for the deficiencies of this least-satisfying chapter. There’s a richer story to tell, and Coyle doesn’t appear to have all the goods. Otherwise, this is the best popular account so far of the Roberts-led court, about the varied background and clashing philosophies of the justices, the careful crafting of arguments to secure five votes, the court’s continually shifting center of gravity and the peculiar burden that rests with the chief justice. Coyle clearly disapproves of the court’s conservative bent, but she gives all sides a fair, respectful hearing and demonstrates her own reverence for the institution.
A careful, informed analysis of the origins, progress and disposition of the complex, high-stakes legal disputes that find their way to the court.Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4516-2751-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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