Tales of the State

Sanford F. Schram is visiting professor in the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College.Philip T. Neisser is associate professor of politics at the State University of New York at Potsdam.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionPart 2 Part I. Origin StoriesChapter 3 Winning the West, Unwelcoming the Immigrant: Alternative Stories of "America",Chapter 4 Constitutional Tales: Capitalist Origin Stories and U.S. DemocracyChapter 5 Pluralizing the American DreamPart 6 Part II. Institutions, Actors, and NarrativesChapter 7 The Storyteller-in-Chief: Why Presidents Like to Tell TalesChapter 8 Self-Legitimating Narratives: The House Republicans and the Contract with AmericaChapter 9 Native Son: Stories of Self-Creation in the Judicial Politics of Clarence ThomasPart 10 Part III. Identity Stories in Public PolicyChapter 11 Talking Straight: Disidentification and Gay RightsChapter 12 "It's Not Just Naked Women": Regulating Transgressive Identities in CyberspaceChapter 13 Welfare Queens: Policing by the NumbersChapter 14 Tales of Black Criminality: Racial Determinism and Fatal NarrativesPart 15 Part IV. Tales of Domestic PolicyChapter 16 Welfare Migration as a Policy Rumor: A Statistical AccountingChapter 17 Tales of the City: The Secret Life of DevolutionChapter 18 The Entrepreneurial Gloss: The Myth of Small Business Job GrowthChapter 19 The Vanishing White Man: Workforce 2000 and Tales of Demographic TransformationChapter 20 Schooling Stories: Three Paths, Two Tragedies, and a VisionPart 21 Part V. Tales of Global PolicyChapter 22 Rumors of Apartheid: Myth and Stereotype in U.S. Foreign Policy Toward South AfricaChapter 23 National Security Tales and the End of the Cold WarChapter 24 NAFTA Discourse: Tales of Sovereignty, Science, and Adjustment,Chapter 25 Is It Global Economics or Neo-Laissez Faire?

Tales of the State offers interesting examples of the role of the stories, or narratives, in politics and public policy. The collection overall makes important contributions to a more pluralistic approach to policy analysis. The book contributes to its goal, and it is one worthy of more attention from political scientists.