text: This is an excellent book.  Its academic / sociological approach may put off some lay readers, but that would be too bad.  The subject, and the message, are both very important.  In many ways, this book is similar to "The Appearance of Impropriety:  How the Ethics Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business and Society," but although this book is somewhat less accessible to general readers it is certainly stronger from a social-science standpoint.  An excellent book, well worth reading for anyone interested in why repeated efforts to stamp out political corruption have borne such mixed (at best) results
  