Mark P. Petracca is associate professor of political science at the University of California at Irvine.

• Preface -- Introduction -- Approaches to Interest Groups -- The Rediscovery of Interest Group Politics -- A Deliberative Theory of Interest Representation -- Interest Groups and the Policymaking Process: Sources of Countervailing Power in America -- American Interest Groups in Comparative Perspective -- The Organization of Interests -- Interest Group Membership and Organization: Multiple Theories -- Triangles, Networks, and Hollow Cores: The Complex Geometry of Washington Interest Representation -- Changing Patterns of Interest Group Activity: A Regional Perspective -- The Political Mobilization of Business -- Political Institutions and Interest Groups -- Organized Interests and the Nation's Capitol -- Interest Mobilization and the Presidency -- Representing the Public Interest: Consumer Groups and the Presidency -- Conservative Interest Group Litigation in the Reagan Era and Beyond -- Interest Group Activity and Influence -- Social Movements as Interest Groups: The Case of the Women's Movement -- Money, Technology, and Political Interests: The Direct Marketing of Politics -- The Rise and Fall of Special Interest Politics -- Looking Ahead -- The Future of an Interest Group Society -- Appendix