Sources: Dirty Deals?: An Encyclopedia of Lobbying, Political Influence, and Corruption

Dirty Deals?: An Encyclopedia of Lobbying, Political Influence, and Corruption. Ed. by Amy Handlin. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2014. 3 vols. Acid free $294 (ISBN 978-1-61069-245-8). E-book (978-1-61069-246-5) available, call for pricing.

While the title may suggest otherwise, the publisher states that Dirty Deals? provides “balanced and fair information about three of the murkiest but most powerful forces in American politics and government” (www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOGreenwood/product.aspx?pc=A3940C). That being said, who controls our government, or at the very least effectively influences policy and regulatory decisions, is a perennial question, and an encyclopedia dedicated to this matter seems fitting.

While ABC-CLIO Greenwood’s publicity materials declare that this is “an encyclopedia like no other,” this three volume work actually combines material from two existing encyclopedias: Ronald J. Hrebenar and Bryson B. Morgan’s Lobbying in America (ABC-CLIO, 2009) and Robert North Roberts’s Ethics in U.S. Government (Greenwood, 2001). Volumes 1 and 3 borrow from Lobbying in America, and volume 2 borrows from Ethics in U.S. Government. Dirty Deals? builds upon the foundation of the two earlier works to provide added breadth and depth. New essays such as “Social Media, Political Influence, and Lobbying” and “The Future of Campaign Finance Regulation in a Post-Citizens United World” are examples of how the material has been expanded and brought up to date.

Volume 1 contains essays on lobbying, political influence, and corruption. “A citizen’s guide to lobbying” is a particularly valuable essay that lays out manageable strategies for individuals who want their voices to be included in political dialogue. Volume 2 includes roughly two hundred articles with information on “people, events, laws, organizations and more” (xxvii). The articles are clearly written and brief, typically one to three paragraphs, and provide suggested readings. Volume 3 provides a rich array of primary documents ranging from laws, court decisions, and executive orders to classic texts and data. While most of the documents are discoverable on the Internet, it is convenient to have them collocated, organized, and often excerpted for accessibility and ease of use.

There are clear benefits to combining, updating, and expanding existing works to provide more comprehensive coverage of lobbying, political influence, and corruption in a single multi-volume encyclopedia. Dirty Deals? provides a solid foundation for beginning research in these areas of study. It is appropriate for public, high school, college, and university libraries.—Anne C. Deutsch, Reference and Instruction Librarian, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, New York