Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
Civic Illiteracy and
Education: The Battle for
the Hearts and Minds of American Youth
By John Marciano
(New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing Inc., 1998).
232 pgs. Retail: $29.95.
Reviewed by Kerry E. Dwyer
This book denounces the history that is taught in the schools across
America. Marciano claims that the educational crisis is not the one we
hear about in the media - that students do not know or understand the
basic "facts" about American history. Rather, the educational crisis is
that the history our youth learn is the product of the dominant-elite of
society. This dominant-elite view of history is designed, according to
Marciano, to foster uncritical patriotism and militarism that will
prevent society from challenging the choices our government makes
concerning foreign policy and aggression. As a result of the inaccurate
portrayal of American history, Marciano posits that true democracy lies
outside the reach of the American public.
The first two chapters of Civic Illiteracy focus on what
Marciano perceives as the inaccuracies in the usual approach to history
- that the United States is devoted to principles of democracy and
freedom. Pointing out examples such as the lack of teaching about the
treatment of Native Americans, slaves, and women in our country,
Marciano observes that history lessons in our schools overlook many
instances where our government did not apply these principles. In the
following two chapters, views of history from minority and feminist
perspectives are offered to rebut the earlier dominant-elite views that
are found in most history lessons. In the final chapters, Marciano
discusses the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. First, he sets forth the
government rhetoric concerning these wars and the subsequent history
lessons about these wars that are taught in the schools. Then he
displays the false information in these accounts that generally
continues to be taught in the schools. In Marciano's view, it is only if
schools cease teaching propaganda-laden history lessons and instead
teach critical analysis of historic events that our youth will become
educated.
This book raises some interesting questions concerning what, or
whose, version of history should be taught in American schools. It is
impossible to read this text without reflecting on one's own education
and recognizing the pro-American bias of these lessons. As many colleges
and universities are embracing a more balanced, multicultural view of
history, Marciano makes a strong argument in favor of our public primary
and secondary schools doing the same.
Kerry Dwyer, Boston College Law
School 1994, is an attorney in the Milwaukee office of Wessels &
Pautsch P.C. where she represents management in labor and employment law
matters.
Telecommuting for Lawyers
By Nicole Belson Goluboff
(Chicago, IL: ABA Law Practice Management Section, 1998).
148 pgs. Retail: $39.96.
Reviewed by Jeffery L. Brown
Goluboff's book, Telecommuting for Lawyers, superbly
discusses some of the major issues of telecommuting (defined as "a fancy
word for what lawyers do all the time: work wherever it makes the most
sense to work"). With ample examples from a range of practice types,
Goluboff makes a persuasive case for why lawyers and law firms should
consider telecommuting as a practice option and how they can effectively
implement such a plan. Her analysis, real-world examples, forms,
checklists, and resource lists make an excellent desk reference for the
lawyer or law firm manager considering the creation, expansion, or
evaluation of a telecommuting program.
Rapid advances in technology, its plunging cost, and increased
dissatisfaction with traditional law practice make Goluboff's book
particularly timely. She describes the ways lawyers and firms have used
telecommuting to increase efficiency, create flexible office hours,
improve work product, empower support staff, improve the work/leisure
balance, improve recruitment and retention, reduce overhead, save
clients money, and increase the accessibility of lawyers.
Goluboff doesn't deny the easy social/professional interchange and
inherent efficiencies in traditional law practice. She acknowledges and
examines some objections to modifying traditional law practice and the
encroachment of work into places and times not traditionally thought of
as the workplace. But she points out how, for an increasing number of
lawyers, this model does not fit with their view of how, or where, they
want to practice law or how they want to allocate time between work,
family, and leisure.
Goluboff encourages flexibility. She encourages lawyers and their
administrators to think about how work can be done in more than one way
to accommodate the increase in dual-career families, long commutes, and
more stressful demands for billing and client development.
Jeffery L. Brown, Harvard 1989, a
frequent telecommuter, is an associate in the Madison office of Quarles
& Brady. He practices in employment and commercial matters, with a
particular interest in the legal issues raised by telework.
Bidding for Power: America's Democracy on the
Auction Block
By Ed Garvey
(Madison, WI: Garvey for Governor, 1998).
104 pgs. Softcover. $9.95.
To order, call (888) 334-9472.
Reviewed by Don M. Mills
Campaign finance reform is the centerpiece of Ed Garvey's campaign
for governor of Wisconsin. To this end, Garvey's campaign has published
Bidding for Power, a book attacking the influence of big money in
campaigns and calling for full public financing of campaigns.
[In the interest of full disclosure, I must point out that Garvey's
opponent, Gov. Thompson, appointed me to the Wisconsin State Elections
Board. Further, I generally oppose efforts to publicly finance
campaigns.]
Bidding for Power focuses on the influence of big money on
the political system. If you believe the current political system is so
corrupt that it is beyond redemption, this book will not challenge your
view. Garvey names names, blaming these perceived problems on
Republicans, Democrats, President Clinton, congressional leaders from
both parties, campaign consultants, business leaders, labor leaders,
lobbyists, and the media.
Relying on personal experience and anecdotes, Garvey argues that big
money is the root of all evil in the political system because: 1)
candidates and consultants from both parties sell their souls to get big
money; 2) special interests, including both business and labor, give big
money primarily to establishment candidates; and 3) the media determines
which candidates are credible based upon the amount of money they
receive. It is this reliance on big money that Garvey blames for the
failure of progressive legislation, such as national health care and a
50 percent capital gains tax, and for the domination of the Democratic
Party by more conservative or "new" democrats.
As a personal statement, Bidding for Power effectively
communicates Garvey's cynical view of the political system and his
passion for changing it. As a basis for policy, however, the book has
serious shortcomings.
In blaming big money for the rightward shift of the Democratic Party
and the failure of progressive legislation, Garvey dismisses, without
analysis or evidence, the possibility that these developments could be
explained by the preferences of the American public.
For a book that bills itself as the "case for publicly funded
campaigns," precious little analysis is dedicated to developing a
proposal to publicly fund campaigns. Most of the nine pages dedicated to
Garvey's plan deal with how the proposal was developed, and the details
of his plan are sketchy at best.
A more fundamental problem is Garvey's naïve belief that public
financing is the silver bullet to kill the influence of big money in
politics. Under Garvey's plan, candidates would have no practical choice
but to accept full public financing of their campaigns and to agree to
spending limits. Candidates could then receive no special interest money
and, theoretically, would not be beholden to special interests after the
elections.
In contrast to his cynical view of the current state of politics,
Garvey ignores the ways in which any public financing system would
certainly be circumvented by special interests. Those special interests
prevented from contributing directly to candidates will independently
run radio and televisions ads and make other legal expenditures (such as
get-out-the-vote drives) designed to elect candidates of their choice.
These independent efforts occur now and would only expand as candidates
participate in Garvey's public financing plan.
Proponents of campaign finance reform often ignore a truth that is
proven year after year in politics: With so much at stake in deciding
who controls the apparatus of government, special interests will find a
way to influence elections, no matter what roadblocks are placed in
their way. Garvey acknowledges this truth when analyzing the current
state of affairs, but fails to consider it when explaining his
solution.
Don M. Millis, U.W. 1990, is a
member of the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission and chair of the
Wisconsin State Elections Board.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
