Reviews Editor's Introduction

Many thanks are due to John Berg for his service to the journal as Reviews Editor for the past seven years. After preparing this, my first issue, for publication I am more fully aware of the time and energy that he devoted to the task. I also thank John for his assistance and guidance as I have assumed the role of Reviews Editor. I plan no major departures from the path established by John, who commissioned reviews on a wide array of topics and cultural forms. My commissioning of reviews will be guided by the following considerations, not necessarily in this order: (1) of likely interest to NPS members; (2) critical, progressive perspectives; (3) written or produced by NPS members; (4) somebody recommended it for review or volunteered to review it; and (5) my own idiosyncratic preferences. I claim no ability to comprehensively represent the diverse interests of NPS Caucus members. While my own research and teaching interests include democratic theory, political economy, public policy, and the politics of art and popular culture, I will attempt to commission reviews covering a broad range of topics. Since New Political Science is “A Journal of Politics &; Culture,” I will seek to include reviews of cultural forms other than books. This issue includes a fine review by Bruce Caswell of two films of potential interest to readers. In addition to books, I am interested in commissioning reviews of cultural forms as diverse as public art, comic books, contemporary fiction, music, and movies, always with the understanding that they say something interesting and valuable about contemporary politics. Our publication schedule, which includes a substantial lag of at least five to six months between finishing a review and publishing it, makes it impossible to publish timely reviews of movies and some other cultural forms. However, movies and other cultural forms often have a deep and lingering impact on culture and politics, making them fit subjects for retrospective review.