Book excerpt: This is a collection of papers dealing with the role of liberalism in the United States during the 1980s and what it means for the 1990s in American politics. Other, related, political areas covered are social and economic policy (health, women's issues, urban issues), foreign policy (the Middle East, the end of the Cold War, dominance, East Asia and foreign investment), issues of representation (the electorate, the decay of American democracy, the media and the message) and issues in government institutions (American federalism, the courts, ethics and the presidency).