Reviews
"To know who governs, we must know who controls the governing agenda. In this innovative book, four top political scientists show that the congressional agenda is disproportionately shaped by economic elites and the politicians most friendly to and funded by them. Combining sophisticated quantitative analysis and compelling case studies, Hijacking the Agenda sets a new standard for research on inequality and American democracy--and sounds a loud warning that all scholars and citizens should hear." -- JACOB HACKER, Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University, "American politics is riven by deep inequalities, but political scientists have struggled to identify the impact of these inequalities on policymaking. Hijacking the Agenda represents a major step forward. Combining imaginative yet well-grounded theorizing with an impressive mix of empirical investigations, this innovative book sheds considerable light on how unequal power often generates unequal policies in the United States." -- PAUL PIERSON, John Gross Professor of Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, Hijacking the Agenda should have a big impact on how we think about Congress, policymaking, and political inequality. It provides an ambitious and creative analysis of an often-overlooked dimension of political power--the outsized role of the wealthy and well-organized in determining whose problems get addressed and whose get ignored." -- LARRY M. BARTELS, May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science, Vanderbilt University