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Vol.
72, No. 2, February 1999
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.
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