When does a labor union cease to become the solution to individual worker struggles and start becoming the problem? Dr. David Prindle sets before the reader a titillating example of just such a case in his definitive; The Politics of Glamour, Democracy and Ideology in the Screen Actors Guild.

Tracking the sound reasons for forming SAG in the late 1920's, Prindle details the many early injustices visited on workers in front of the camera in uniquely American industry, the movie business. Adroitly, Prindle illustrates how SAG was born as a Guild and bred into a Union. This is a comprehensive history of the titanic forces at play shaping the most widely known yet little understood labor union in the United States. Dr. Prindle explains in careful detail the evolution of SAG from founders like Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Cagney through recent Guild Presidents Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston and Ed Asner.

If you want to know how the Screen Actors Guild evolved from a scrappy, tough-fisted bunch of actors bent on decent jobs, wages and working conditions to a wimpy, politically correct pack of star-wanna-bees, then you will enjoy this book.

Prindles style has snap, crackle and pop because he doesn't take sides in the many ideological wars that ravage SAG politics even to this day. He lets the towering Hollywood legends call it as they see it. Then he documents the antics of their retinues, deployed in battalion strength to muscle political control over one of Americas most influential labor organizations.

David Prindle's Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission is an in-depth analysis of the history and policies of the Texas Railroad Commission. Professor Prindle believes the Commission is unique among regulatory agencies. He suggests that not only is it the most powerful regulatory agency in the United States, it is also the only important regulatory agency in which the officers are elected rather than appointed.
Professor Prindle's book is divided chronologically, which seems appropriate to the theme of the book. He begins his work with a brief explanation of the development of the Railroad Commission. Governor Hogg formed the Railroad Commission to regulate costs on railroads. Hogg's tremendous popularity with the common man allowed him to easily dominate the new agency in its earliest days. Governor Hogg feared railroad insiders would quickly dominate the agency if officers were elected; therefore, he pressured the state legislature to allow the governor to appoint the positions in its early days. Due to a rare political misstep by Governor Hogg, he failed to appoint any progressive farmers to the commission, the movement soon demanded all commission officers be elected. The state court capitulated to the farmers demands and the Texas Railroad Commissions soon became the most powerful independent agency in the United States with freely elected leadership.
Dr. Prindle then addresses the reasons for the Railroad Commissions involvement in the states petroleum industry and explains its relative importance nationally. When oil was discovered in abundance in the Lone Star State it soon became evident to all involved that the petroleum industry must be regulated to prevent abuses. There was no regulatory agency in place for the new industry, and it was soon determined that since oil was transported by trains, the Texas Railroad Commission would be responsible. In its earliest days this was highly beneficial to those involved in the oil industry since Railroad Commissioners knew very little about the petroleum business. The Commission gave the wildcatters and roughnecks free reign to operate their industry as they chose until it became evident the market would have to be monitored.
Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission does an admirable job of tracing the regulating policies from the earliest days of the industry until through 1980 when the book was finished. He explains the many ways the commission attempted to control the oil market by limiting the amount of oil that could be produced per well. He explains that Texas was the primary producer of all oil in the United States until the 1970s when Middle Eastern interests surpassed the state.
Professor Prindle's book is well researched and organized exceptionally well. The greatest weakness of Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission is the over abundance of data. It is difficult to digest all the numbers and facts presented by the author and sometimes the work reads like a grocery list of statistics. This is definitely not a book for the casual reader or undergraduate students. David Prindle's book is a very important work targeted at a specific audience. That audience will find this book worthwhile.

This book is a comprehensive look at Texas politics which in itself is somewhat confusing, but the style of the book tends to cloud the issue even more. It sometimes uses examples that are not exactly on point and if you don't live in Texas than you may not fully understand the point of reference it comes from. Overall though, it is a detailed and comprehensive. The book offers some great study questions at the end of each chapter. This book tends to really very frank with it's criticism of the Texas political machine and on occasion it leans to the right somewhat, but heck, this is Texas, what did you expect.