Gorbachev and Obstacles Toward Détente
Philip D. Stewart presents an interpretation of Mikhail Gorbachev's approach to U.S.-Soviet relations, based upon careful analysis of the leader's writings, which sees Gorbachev as a strident Soviet nationalist who rejects most of the assumptions and outlooks upon which Brezhnev sought to create the détante of the early 1970s.

Religion and the Future of American Politics
A. James Reichley examines the current and likely future roles in American politics of five major religious groups: Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, white evangelical Protestants, black Protestants, and Jews.  He warns that if any of these groups pursue their particular interests too aggressively, they may undermine the essential part played by religion in nurturing democratic values.

Cities as Partners in the Federal System
ROBERT B. THOMAS argues that American central cities confront a dilemma between pursuing a policy of economic development and that of providing better services to the poor.  The dilemma is aggravated by the changes in aid programs funded by the federal government.

The Anticolonial Policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Reappraisal
John J. Sbrega analyzes the anticolonial views of Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.  Although Sbrega acknowledges that important reasons prevented Roosevelt from having complete freedom of action, the author contends that Roosevelt still did not go far enough toward implementing some of his anticolonial ideas.

The Jacksonian Integration of Parties into the Constitutional System
Douglas W. Jaenicke uncovers the political theory inherent in the Jacksonian Democrats' idea of a political party and contends that the Jacksonians' procedural emphasis facilitated the integration of political parties into the constitutional order.

Politics and Policy Analysis
Peter J. May examines contributions of the political science literature to assessments of the political feasibility of policy proposals.  He argues that methodological advances in feasibility calculations are better aimed at informing policy makers' judgements than toward developing any definitive feasibility calculus.

Two Roads Diverged in a Wood: A Review Essay on British Politics
In his review essay of current books on recent British politics, Jorgen S. Rasmussen argues that nearly seven years of Margaret Thatcher has done more to change the style of decision making in Britain than to transform the content of public policy.  Whether that change becomes permanent still is contingent on what party wins the next general election.

The Turning Point. Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill, and Chiang-Kai-Shek, 1943: The Moscow, Cairo, and Teheran Conferences, Keith Sainsbury
Reviewed by Walter LaFeber

The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict: Making America's Middle East Policy, from Truman to Reagan, Steven L. Spiegel
Reviewed by Charles Kupchan

Preventing Nuclear War: A Realistic Approach, Barry M. Blechman, ed.
Reviewed by Aaron Karp

Origins of Containment: A Psychological Explanation, Deborah Welch Larson
Reviewed by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Liberalism and Its Challengers: FDR to Reagan, Alonzo L. Hamby
Reviewed by Steven F. Lawson

Equality in America: The View from the Top, Sidney Verba and Gary R. Orren
Reviewed by Aaron Wildavsky

The New Urban Reality, Paul E. Peterson, ed.
Reviewed by Peter K. Eisinger

High Technology Policies: A Five Nation Comparison, Richard R. Nelson
Reviewed by Harvey Picker

Behind the Lines: The Private War against Soviet Censorship, Donald R. Shanor
Reviewed by Doris A. Graber

American Violence and Public Policy: An Update of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, Lynn A. Curtis, ed.
Reviewed by Herbert Jacob

Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America, Walter LaFeber
Reviewed by William M. LeoGrande

America Overcommitted: United States National Interests in the 1980s, Donald E. Nuechterlein
Reviewed by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

A Mirror for Socialism: Soviet Criticism of China, Gilbert Rozman
Reviewed by Douglas Stuart

Refugee Scholars in America: Their Impact and their Experiences, Lewis A. Coser
Reviewed by Jerry Z. Muller

Ripe for Resolution: Conflict and Intervention in Africa, I. William Zartman
Reviewed by Gwendolen M. Carter

The Fraud Game: State Responses to Fraud and Abuse in AFDC and Medicaid Programs, John A. Gardiner and Theodore R. Lyman
Reviewed by Ralph da Costa Nunez

The Feminist Case Against Bureaucracy, Kathy E. Ferguson
Reviewed by Joyce Gelb

Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850, Sean Wilentz
Reviewed by Amy Bridges

The Line of Duty: Maverick Congressmen and the Development of American Political Culture, Johanna Nicol Shields
Reviewed by Nelson W. Polsby

German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler, Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.
Reviewed by Robert E. Neil

The Warsaw Pact: Alliance in Transition?, David Holloway and Jane M.O. Sharp, eds.
Reviewed by Robin Alison Remington

Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with a Militant Israel, Stephen Green
Reviewed by Jed Snyder

Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War, Shabtai Teveth
Reviewed by Donna Robinson Divine

The Middle East Since Camp David, Robert O. Freedman, ed.
Reviewed by W. R. Campbell

Zhou Enlai: A Biography, Dick Wilson
Reviewed by Parris Chang

Chinese Business under Socialism: The Politics of Domestic Commerce, 1949- 1980, Dorothy J. Solinger
Reviewed by Andrew G. Walder

The Ideology of the Offensive: Military Decision Making and the Disasters of 1914, Jack Snyder
Reviewed by Michael Howard

Yuri V. Andropov: Speeches and Writings, Robert Maxwell, ed. ; Soviet-U.S. Relations: The Selected Writings and Speeches of Konstantin U. Chernenko, Victor Pribytkov, ed.
Reviewed by Roman Kolkowicz

The Peoples of the Eastern Habsburg Lands, 1526-1918, Robert A. Kann and Zdeněk V. David
Reviewed by Bela K. Kiraly