Drunk Driving

KLIATT

The At Issue series provides a useful service in handily assembling in one place different perspectives on current issues, like the other Greenhaven series reviewed below, but the At Issue titles have a relatively narrow focus and the volumes are correspondingly shorter, with less editorial material. Each book starts with a three or four-page introduction that discusses the issue and explains why it’s controversial, followed by a dozen or so articles by journalists, scientists, government officials and others. For example, in Performance Enhancing Drugs the National Institute on Drug Abuse holds that “Performance-Enhancing Drugs Are Harmful to Health,” while newspaper columnist Glenn Dickey maintains, “Looking for an Edge is Part of Sports.” Law professor Matthew J. Mitten believes that “Athletic Governing Bodies Should Administer Drug Testing Programs,” while coach Ken Mannie of Michigan State University states that “Testing Inhibits the Development of Performance-Enhancing Drugs.” Each article begins with a paragraph summarizing the author’s argument, and there is an annotated list of organizations to contact at the back of the book. While some of these hot topics may quickly become outdated (e.g., Is the U.S. Ready for a Minority President?), the volumes provide a variety of carefully chosen contrasting opinions for class discussions and debates as well as individual research. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick
March 2008 (Vol. 42, No.2)