New Books

Confronting Consumption, edited by Thomas Princen, Michael Maniates, and Ken Conca, MIT Press, 2002, 386 pages

Consumption is the 800-pound gorilla in the living room no one wants to talk about," says Michael Maniates, associate professor of political science and environmental science at the College. But with the publication of Confronting Consumption, which Maniates co-edited and co-authored, people are starting to talk about this "gorilla," and they are doing so with a new sense of resolve.

In this provocative collection of essays, readers are challenged to think about, and perhaps take responsibility for, the environmental, social, and economic effects of consumptionusing up goods or services to satisfy human needs.

Confronting Consumption frames over-consumption as a problem of political and ecological economy and suggests that solutions must involve more than technological efficiency. "However," Maniates warns, "don't confuse this book with others that condemn Americans for their supposedly wasteful lifestyles. The essays don't blame individual consumers; they endeavor to help them take on the escalating pressures of consumerism and advertising that clutter our lives and drain our bank accounts."

Without discouraging individual efforts like recycling and the use of energy-efficient light bulbs and cars, Confronting Consumption looks to collectively challenge through political reform, something much greater: the myth of consumption as a symbol of progress.

"There's an impressive amount of research data," Maniates notes, "that suggests that, after some point, more stuff doesn't make us that much happier; our lives become more complicated, we have to work longer hours, and we become more distanced from enduring sources of satisfaction: time with friends, loving families, participation in our communities. That leads to the question: Even if we had the infinite planetary capacity to consume, would we really be better off? Probably not. And there's no better time than now to begin wrestling with the questions of how much is enough and, collectively, how much is too much."

Campaign Mode: Strategic Vision in Congressional Elections, by Michael John Burton and Daniel M. Shea, associate professor of political science, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002, 192 pages

The pressures of contemporary electioneering force political professionals into "campaign mode" a state of mind that merges a visceral drive to win elections with a deep-seated habit of strategic thinking. Wise political professionals know how to read the political terrain, and they are familiar with some of the basic rules of electoral strategy in order to figure out which electoral strategies will work and which will not.

Campaign Mode examines the strategic histories of five congressional elections to draw out the manner in which political professionals come to understand political campaigns. By combining original interviews, survey data, and historical investigation, and by watching candidates interact with their constituents, Campaign Mode offers a scholarly approach to the strategic workings of electoral politics.

Campaign Mode shows how five congressional representatives gained or held office, but in a larger sense it conveys an understanding of politics from the professional's point of view. The authors of Campaign Mode are former political professionals themselves: Both have analyzed electoral politics for major political figures. As such, the researchers bring unique insight to the scholarly study of elections, fitting academic findings to real-world experience. Campaign Mode thus gives larger meaning to the successful campaigns of Ohio's Ted Strickland, Georgia's Bob Barr, California's Loretta Sanchez, Tennessee's Harold Ford Jr., and Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum. By offering a strategic understanding of congressional campaigns, Campaign Mode adds an important new dimension to the scholarly understanding of electoral strategy, showing readers how to think like a political professional.

"Burton and Shea get it right," says Thurgood Marshall, Jr., campaign aide to former president Bill Clinton. "They identify the conceptual rules that typically dictate campaign strategy, note the exceptions and illustrate it all with well-chosen case studies and analysis. This book is an enjoyable must-read by two writers who blend their political and academic expertise to perfection."