Word: bookings
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Politics and patronage go hand in hand, but some presidential appointments in the next administration may be hard to fill. The nonpartisan Center for Excellence in Government catalogs them in The Prune Book, a just released guide to 116 of the toughest jobs in the capital. Some examples: a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs admits that sometimes "stamina was more important than intelligence" in keeping pace with the travel and social demands of his post. At the Office of Management and Budget, the challenge is "not to cave" in to demands for money. Says a former...
...directory, a takeoff on the traditional "plum book" of political patronage, has a serious purpose: to stress "the consequences of failure to perform effectively" in sub-Cabinet Government offices. Explains former State Department spokesman John Trattner, who wrote the book: "A prune is a plum with experience...
WHILE Larry White does present overwhelming evidence that cigarette smoking is lethal and is moreover perpetrated by companies that have concern for profits and no care for their fellow citizens, his book fails to be thoroughly convincing. He presents quotes and official statistics, but White generally neglects to present the reader with his sources...
...addition to failing to show where he obtains his evidence, White's language is occasionally too relaxed and sarcastic for a book that rails against an official industry. When writing about the medical profession, White invokes the "good old family doc of the AMA", and when talking about a time when the cigarette companies invited doctors to investigate their policies, he says that the medics disapproved of the policies, but adds that they probably enjoyed being wined and dined...
Despite these drawbacks, White's book is an effective attack on the cigarette industry. Its purpose is not to campaign against smoking, it is to campaign against those who promote it. And that is because he views their policies as tantamount to death...