Barbara Sinclair is Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of The Transformation of the U.S. Senate and Majority Leadership in the U.S. House, both available from Johns Hopkins.

A most remarkable undertaking. It represents a scholarly research effort that has stretched over nearly two decades. It has involved the getting and maintaining an unusual level of access to the workings of Democratic party leadership and yet an ability to remain sufficiently distant to develop the broader perspective. The end result is clearly a most important-if not the most important-book on party leadership and Congress. -- Bruce I. Oppenheimer American Political Science Review A superb combination of description and analysis that captures the Democratic-dominated House of the 1980's and early 1990's... Sinclair has provided us with both a summing up and a benchmark as we proceed to analyze the so-called Republican Revolution as it reverberates through the U.S. House. We are in her debt. -- Burdett Loomis Congress and the Presidency A classic study of the postreform house for all present and future students of Congress...Applying a perceptive and disciplined mind to an impressive knowledge of the topic, the author provides a detailed and instructive account of the relations between majority leaders and members in the postreform House, as well as valuable evidence and insights on such matters as the blending of substance and politics in decision making, current patterns of relationships with lobbyists, and the emerging public role of the Speaker. -- Joseph Cooper Political Science Quarterly

• List of TablesPreface, 1998AcknowledgementsChapter 1. The Leadership Puzzle: An IntroductionChapter 2. Legislators, Leaders, and Lawmaking: A Principal-Agent ApproachChapter 3. The House and Its Leadership from the 1950s Through the 1970sChapter 4. The Emergence of Activist Leadership in the House of RepresentativesChapter 5. Leadership in a Changing Environment: Tasks, Resources, and StrategiesChapter 6. Organization, Communication, and AccountabilityChapter 7. Information and Inclusion: The Whip SystemChapter 8. Structuring Choices: The Rules CommitteeChapter 9. Leaders, Committees, and the Prefloor Legislative ProcessChapter 10. Assembling Floor MajoritiesChapter 11. Setting the Agenda and Shaping DebateChapter 12. Does Activist Leadership Make a Difference? Legislative Success and the Lawmaking Process in the Postreform HouseAfterword, 1998ReferencesIndex

Barbara Sinclair is Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of The Transformation of the U.S. Senate and Majority Leadership in the U.S. House, both available from Johns Hopkins.

A most remarkable undertaking. It represents a scholarly research effort that has stretched over nearly two decades. It has involved the getting and maintaining an unusual level of access to the workings of Democratic party leadership and yet an ability to remain sufficiently distant to develop the broader perspective. The end result is clearly a most important-if not the most important-book on party leadership and Congress. -- Bruce I. Oppenheimer American Political Science Review A superb combination of description and analysis that captures the Democratic-dominated House of the 1980's and early 1990's... Sinclair has provided us with both a summing up and a benchmark as we proceed to analyze the so-called Republican Revolution as it reverberates through the U.S. House. We are in her debt. -- Burdett Loomis Congress and the Presidency A classic study of the postreform house for all present and future students of Congress...Applying a perceptive and disciplined mind to an impressive knowledge of the topic, the author provides a detailed and instructive account of the relations between majority leaders and members in the postreform House, as well as valuable evidence and insights on such matters as the blending of substance and politics in decision making, current patterns of relationships with lobbyists, and the emerging public role of the Speaker. -- Joseph Cooper Political Science Quarterly

• List of TablesPreface, 1998AcknowledgementsChapter 1. The Leadership Puzzle: An IntroductionChapter 2. Legislators, Leaders, and Lawmaking: A Principal-Agent ApproachChapter 3. The House and Its Leadership from the 1950s Through the 1970sChapter 4. The Emergence of Activist Leadership in the House of RepresentativesChapter 5. Leadership in a Changing Environment: Tasks, Resources, and StrategiesChapter 6. Organization, Communication, and AccountabilityChapter 7. Information and Inclusion: The Whip SystemChapter 8. Structuring Choices: The Rules CommitteeChapter 9. Leaders, Committees, and the Prefloor Legislative ProcessChapter 10. Assembling Floor MajoritiesChapter 11. Setting the Agenda and Shaping DebateChapter 12. Does Activist Leadership Make a Difference? Legislative Success and the Lawmaking Process in the Postreform HouseAfterword, 1998ReferencesIndex