Twenty years ago, Frank Sherwood attempted to identify the most influential book in public administration from 1940 to 1990. This article makes a modest attempt to recreate that study for the span of 1990 to 2010 with a striking difference in its results. Whereas Sherwood’s panel picked a book that was well liked and respected in the academic community, the current study produced a winning volume that was almost universally derided by the panel of public administration scholars. The study also revealed interesting side stories about the methodology for identifying influence, the state of academic publishing, and the future of books for the field public administration.
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