A Political Bestiary: Viable Alternatives, Impressive Mandates, and Other Fables.

Abstract

There is a copy of this book already in the collection, but I could not pass up the opportunity to include a copy signed by Eugene McCarthy. I may even have voted for him! The brief-title-page has this inscription: To David Riemer with best wishes, Eugene McCarthy, 1982. I believe that a month is indicated but I cannot make it out. I wrote the following of the first copy I found: I have read every one of these forty beast-descriptions and enjoyed them. In a book of this sort, there is sometimes a tendency for either text or illustration to dominate, but that does not happen here. Both the verbal and the visual are well done and challenging. The cliches themselves are to some extent dated already, seventeen years later. Among the best texts are The Credible Deterrent (34) and The Dilemma (54), and among the best illustrations are The Viable Alternative (19) and The Mounting Crisis (31). Among the best combinations are Tight and Other Budgets (24), The Flexible Goal (28), The Parameter (52), The Investigative Reporter (78), and The Reliable Source (82).