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These questions, however, do not detract from the many important contributions of this study, which is highly recommended for students of autocracy, institutions, and African politics.

Core graduate-level seminars, in many ways, establish the “canon” literature for scholars entering a discipline. In the study of American Politics, the contents of this canon vary widely across departments and instructors, with important implications for the perspectives to which graduate students are exposed. At a basic level, the demographic characteristics of the authors whose work is assigned can have a major impact on the diversity (or lack of diversity) of viewpoints presented in these introductory courses. Using a unique dataset derived from a survey of core American Politics graduate seminars at highly-ranked universities, this project assesses the gender diversity of the authors whose research is currently taught—overall and within a comprehensive list of topics and subtopics. We also assess the “substantive representation” of women (and other underrepresented groups) within the American Politics canon by examining the frequency with which gender, racial, and other forms of identity politics are taught in these introductory courses.

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Alan Cranston, former Senator from California, achieved so much in his life that an equally prodigious biography is required to present his story to the world. In Alan Cranston -Senator from California, historian Judith Robinson seizes the opportunity to write an incredibly detailed, thoughtful memoir about a person who lived through, and participated in, some of the most important events of the twentieth century. The purpose of this book review is to highlight the key components of Robinson's exhaustive biography, which in doing so, will explicate the themes, characters, and key events that compose the story of Cranston's life. This takes shape by engaging the book as it chronicles Cranston's life from his creative adolescence, to his early adulthood exploring much of the world as a foreign correspondent, and finally, his over half-century as a key figure in California politics. By utilizing Cranston's personal papers, letters to friends and colleagues, interviews with key figures in his life, and media coverage of important historical and political events, the review will demonstrate Robinson's dedication to telling the story of Alan Cranston in rich detail, with many revelatory anecdotes to pique the reader's interest. Taken as a whole, the biography is an essential read in explaining the significance of Cranston's life in the larger context of political and social change in California, national legislative and electoral politics during the Cold War, and the work to build closer bonds between the political entities that represent the people of the world.