Jane Beckett-Camarata is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Kent State University. She is past chair of the American Society for Public Administration’s Section on Public Administration Education. Her research and teaching interests include state and local financial management, budgeting, revenue systems, financial emergencies, and debt markets. E-mail: jbecket1@kent.edu Larkin Dudley is an associate professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy, School of Public and Interna- tional Affairs at Virginia Tech. She is a past president of the American Society of Public Administration’s Section on Public Adminis- tration Education. Her research and teach- ing interests include organization theory and behavior, policy design and analysis, privatization, and public participation. E-mail: dudleyl@vt.edu Book Reviews 634 Public Administration Review • July | August 2010 Hindy Lauer Schachter, Editor Jane Beckett-Camarata Kent State University Larkin Dudley Virginia Tech Educating American Public Administrators: Texts for the Introductory Course Robert B. Denhardt and Janet V. Denhardt, Public Administration: An Action Orientation, 6th ed. (Belmont, CA: Tomson/Wadsworth, 2009). 487 pp. $149.95 (cloth), ISBN: 9780495502821. Nicholas Henry, Public Administration and Public Affairs, 11th ed. (New York: Longman, 2010). xii, 404 pp. $99.40 (cloth), ISBN: 9780205685516. David H. Rosenbloom, Robert S. Kravchuk, and Richard M. Clerkin, Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector, 7th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008). xvii, 580 pp. $115.75 (paper), ISBN: 9780073403892. Donald F. Kettl and James W. Fesler, Te Politics of the Administrative Process, 4th ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009). xxv, 582 pp. $88.95 (paper), ISBN: 9780872895997. Brian R. Fry and Jos C. N. Raadschelders, Master- ing Public Administration: From Max Weber to Dwight Waldo, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008). xii, 386 pp. $36.95 (paper), ISBN: 9781933116822. I t has been quite some time since PAR reviewed books intended for use in introductory public administration courses—courses in which most students first encounter the world of public admin- istration. Because there are so many new resources, the chair of ASPA’s Section on Public Administra- tion Education asked members to nominate texts for review. Te following five books were selected from the nominees. Four are traditional introductory texts, and one is often used in graduate-level introductory courses. Te introductory textbooks by Robert B. Denhardt and Janet V. Denhardt; Nicholas Henry; and Da- vid H. Rosenbloom, Robert S. Kravchuk, and Richard M. Clerkin cover the “waterfront” of public administration. Each of these texts has an introductory chapter outlining the book’s focus and contains chapters or subsections on the core ideas in human resources, budgeting, policy analysis, evalu- ation, organizational theory, leadership, and deci- sion making, as well as the intergovernmental and intersectoral contexts of governing. All discuss, to some extent, the legislative and judicial contexts, with Rosenbloom, Kravchuk, and Clerkin including basic background on the constitutional and legal approach to public administration. Te Denhardts’ text includes a separate chapter on administrative reform and, like Henry’s book, also features technology and knowledge management. Te historical context of public administration is addressed differently in the three texts. Te Denhardts restrict their comments on history to short sections on some of the “big” issues, such as politics and admin- istration and civil service reform. Henry provides a historical context for most chapters, including the development of the field of public administration, while Rosenbloom, Kravchuk, and Clerkin give prom- inent attention to the development of the American administrative state. Each text has a distinctive focus that earns it a special niche in the field and appeals to different audiences. In Public Administration and Public Affairs (11th edition), Henry outlines the major paradigms and the major periods of administrative history with scholarly detail and clarifying charts and graphs. For example, he outlines the field of public administration using six paradigms: the politics–administration dichotomy, principles of public administration, public adminis- tration as political science, as management, as public administration, and finally as governance in the last period from 1990 to the present. Te special contribution of Henry’s book to the field of public administration is the integration of scholarly paradigms of public administration, public affairs, organizational theory, and management with current