Complementing the focus on the structural and social-psychological aspects of measuring social change, this report establishes a research approach relating social measurement to antecedent and consequent political considerations: political values, policy impact, power consequences, administrative influences, institutionalization, and so forth. This study is directed to any social scientist interested in political phenomena and in the issue of the relationship between social science and public policy.

Peter J. Henriot, Center of Concern, Washington, D.C.

This book, encouraging more effective collaboration between professional architects and social scientists, outlines how social science research can aid the design process, detailing how physical environment relates to behavior. With a foreword by Hugh F. Cline.

John Zeisel, Harvard University, Department of Architecture

This history covers the first forty years of Russell Sage Foundation's efforts toward "the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States of America." It records the things that were done, both as direct work and through grants, with considerable attention to the social situation which made them seen necessary or desirable. It is of value not only to those interested in the operation of the Russell Sage Foundation or other foundatons, but for the light it throws upon the origins and development of a wide variety of movements in the borad field of social science.

First the press became the media, and now the media have become the Imperial Media—or have they? In this timely and comprehensive analysis, Michael Robinson and Margaret Sheehan examine how the news media behaved (or misbehaved) in covering the 1980 presidential campaign.

Using the media's own traditional standards as a guide, Robinson and Sheehan measure the level of objectivity, fairness, seriousness, and criticism displayed by CBS News and United Press International between January and December of 1980. Drawing on statistical analyses of almost 6,000 news stories and dozens of interviews with writers and reporters, the authors reach convincing and sometimes surprising conclusions. They demonstrate, for example, that both CBS and UPI strictly avoided subjective assessments of the candidates and their positions on the issues. Both gave the major parties remarkably equal access. But the media seem to give more negative coverage to front-runners, treating serious challengers less harshly. Perhaps the most surprising finding is that networks were not more superficial than print; CBS attended to the issues at least as often as UPI.

Robinson and Sheehan find television coverage more subjective, more volatile, and substantially more negative than traditional print. But CBS behaved neither imperially nor irresponsibly in Campaign '80. The networks did, however, emulate the more highly charged journalism of the eastern elite print press.

By blending the quantitative techniques of social science and the tools of Washington-based journalism, Robinson and Sheehan have produced a book that will be essential reading for students and practitioners of politics, public opinion research, journalism, and communications. Lively and readable, it should also appeal to anyone interested in the role of the news media in contemporary politics.

MICHAEL J. ROBINSON is associate professor of politics at Catholic University and director of the Media Analysis Project at George Washington University.

MARGARET A. SHEEHAN is research analyst for a law firm in Washington, D.C.

Although tolerance is one of our most cherished ideals, history suggests it is not an inborn human trait. Tolerance must be learned, and the sophisticated arguments on which it is based make it much harder to learn than intolerance. In this extensive study of civil liberties, Herbert McClosky and Alida Brill attempt to discover who learns the norms of tolerance and why.

Reaching well beyond traditional categories of analysis, McClosky and Brill have surveyed civil libertarian attitudes among the general public, opinion leaders, lawyers and judges, police officials, and academics. They analyze levels of tolerance in a wide range of civil liberties domains—first amendment rights, due process, privacy, and such emerging areas as women's and homosexual rights—and along numerous variables including political participation, ideology, age, and education.

This landmark study offers a comprehensive assessment of the viability—and vulnerability—of beliefs central to the democratic system. It makes an invaluable contribution to the study of contemporary American institutions and attitudes.

Herbert McClosky was research director at the Survey Research Center in Berkeley and professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Alida Brill was program director and scholar in residence at the Russell Sage Foundation.

Despite the romantic image of American Indians that lingers in our collective imagination, little is known about the descendants of the people who dwelt in this land for centuries before Columbus. In American Indians: The First of This Land, C. Matthew Snipp provides an unrivaled chronicle of the recent history, contemporary lives, and demography of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Taking advantage of Census Bureau efforts to collect high quality data for these groups, Snipp details the composition and characteristics of the American Indian and Alaska Native populations, looking at housing, family structure, language use and education, socioeconomic status, migration, and mortality. Drawing comparisons with the black and white populations, Snipp provides important historical perspectives that are particularly necessary to any understanding of American Indian demography. A remarkable diversity emerges of a population—Eskimos, Aleuts, and numerous Indian tribes—once thought doomed to extinction but now making a dramatic comeback, exceeding 1 million for the first time in 300 years.

American Indians offers an unsurpassed overview of a minority group that is deeply embedded in American folklore, the first of this land historically but now among the last in its socioeconomic hierarchy. The book is an essential reference for anyone interested in a contemporary portrait of an enduring element of America's social mosaic.

C. Matthew Snipp is associate professor of rural sociology and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a former fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Published by the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation in 1913, this paper offers concise advice on early child-rearing to expectant mothers.

Frances Sage Bradley was chairman for Georgia of the Committee for Public Health Education Among Women of the American Medical Association and state chairman, Publich Health Committee, Georgia Federation of Women's Clubs.

A paper on practices to improve hygiene in children's environments, particularly the school playground.

George E. Johnson was superintendent of the Playground Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

A paper on the social benefits of playgrounds, from the Playground Extention Committee of the Russell Sage Foundation.

Harriet Hickox Heller, Playground Association of America

A 1911 address dedicated to the prevention of infant mortality focusing on children born outside of wedlock. 

Hastings H. Hart was director of the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation.