by Robert A. Dahl - Yale University Press; 217 p. $10.95.

Robert A. Dahl might not be as well known as an Arend Lijphart or other most prominent personalities in the Political Science realm but he is certainly a master on the difficult task of presenting an objective and comprehensive view on democracy.  

He certainly has good credentials as Sterling Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Yale University, among others.  He deserves to be considered among the US leading authorities devoted to democratic theory and practice.   

This book is an eloquent and concise summary of the great issues in democratic thought. Dahl is extremely able in presenting such a complex topic in a clear and concise form that is very accessible to the general reader.

Even when he is skeptical on participatory democracy, mostly on account of size, his views are quite objective and must be considered.  Anyone interested in democracy and anxious to browse on why it is valuable, how it works and what its future challenges are, must read this book.

Dahl has other equally interesting works in Political Science.  Outstanding among them is "Polyarchy:  Participation and Opposition".