‘Ever since I wrote Creating Public Value, I have had to argue with my academic colleagues about whether the idea of “strategic public management” could be considered a legitimate academic field that should attract attention from researchers, teachers, and practitioners who were interested in developing the concepts and pedagogies that could enable public officials, and more broadly, public leaders, to do better in mobilizing and directing private and public assets towards the achievement of freer, more prosperous, more secure, more tolerant, and more just societies. This Handbook on Strategic Public Management by Carsten Greve and Tamyko Ysa provides a resounding “yes!” to that question, and goes on to explain what this subject is, and – more significantly, why it is important, and how it can be taught! I am very glad it has been written since it shows the breadth of scholarship focused on this idea, along with the depth and precision of the analytic concepts associated with the larger idea. I recommend it heartily to those who wish to understand the internal logic and potential utility of this field, and to develop it further both in theory and in practice.’