AMERICAN POLITICS SINCE 1945

A majority of these articles collected from The New York Times Sunday Magazine are assessments of the style, personality and policies of presidents or contenders, organized chronologically from Truman to Johnson and ending with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s dismal preview of President Nixon. There is both a post-honeymoon and a closing administration portrait of each president. The editor has included several pieces by Arthur Krock, Cabell Phillips, James Reston and Tom Wicker providing a Washington Bureau lens for viewing the changing political spectrum. This is sound journalism and the portraits remain relevant. And Anthony Lewis' assessment of the Supreme Court's new role as the country's conscience (1962) and James MacGregor Burns on the ""four-party"" system (1956) change the pace and deserve particular mention. Dalfiume provides an unexceptional introduction.