Labored Relations: Law, Politics, and the NLRB--A Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Clueless in the Capitol
Review: For those fascinated by the political process, Labored Relations may become the top comedy pick of the year. Prof. Gould, a fine labor law professor who has dedicated his life to showing unions, companies and workers what he believes to be a better way, consistently rejected the sincere attempts by all those around him who tried to show him a better way to move past the traps that bedevil anyone who decides to play Washington's political game. The book begins with a musing by Professor Gould as to why, as Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, he was being taken to task yet again by both liberals and conservatives during one of his many troubled appropriations hearings on Capitol Hill. But after 475 pages of labored musings, the reader will be even more amused to discover that the professor never does figure out the proper role of a member of the NLRB in our society. At one point he even asks himself what he likes least about being a professor and an NLRB member. Grading papers and dealing with his fellow NLRB members, he writes. Both tasks require a willingness to genuinely consider a point of view other than one's own, something the professor seldom does in his labored days in Washington. If you are interested in obtaining a political appointment in the next administration and want advice on how to make nearly every mistake possible during your tenure (including meticulously documenting your foibles in a memoir), be sure to buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: mr. smith goes to washington
Review: it seems to me that chairman Gould didn't get as much adulation and power as he thought he deserved. Perhaps the reason that he didn't get along with anyone, including his democratic friends in congress, the white house and the Board itself, says more about his style than theirs.