Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress

This book is a great source of information on the legislative process in Congress today. It is a bit technical and has a lot of examples (that you can skim over), but it is very informative. If you want to know more about the legislative process or are going to work on the Hill, this is definitely a useful book.

There exists a profound difference between the legislative process observed on Capitol Hill and the legislative process described in most U.S. Gov't textbooks and Sinclair's work presents a fluid and well written testament to that fact!In her preface, she explains that this work was written to help the most nascent student of Congress understand the legislative process, but I would say those without a working knowledge of Congress will not appreciate the nuances in this work.Sinclair compares historical and even for their time, controversial legislation (Clean Air Act) with the more modern examples of legislation that proved out signficantly more problematic than their earlier counterparts. Moving back and forth between the House and the Senate, she begins to paint the picture of the divisiveness that is partisan politics today.That Sinclair would write such an ambitious work, is a tribute to her understanding of this body. This book is sophisticated and insightful and should be on the shelves of EVERY student in political science, but particularly those who study Congress. I would add this disclaimer however, that this book is not for the faint of heart. If one has already developed an abiding mistrust in Congress, this book may only serve to reinforce it. The simple fact is, if more people were exposed to the true nature of "doing the business of the people," they would appreciate the "ugliness of democracy" and embrace it for that! Three cheers to Barbara!