Bok Assesses 'State of Nation'

In his newly-released book, President Emeritus Derek C. Bok, who is known for his books on higher education, tackles the state of America and its government.

Bok takes a unique approach to studying America's global standing in The State of the Nation and concludes that while life in America has improved since 1960, the country still lags behind other industrialized nations.

Bok's work does not begin with an assumption of America's standing. Rather, the book considers copious amounts of quantitative data to reach its conclusions.

Jack Beatty, who reviewed the book for the current issue of Harvard Magazine, calls it a "civic gift."

"His concern about the state of the nation is manifest on every page of this sweeping work of scholarship and unusually cogent thought," Beatty writes.

But not all reviewers have positively received Bok's neutral methodology.

"Perhaps because it is more descriptive than prescriptive and because it is precisely not polemical, The State of the Nation is often dry," said an unsigned review in the Dec. 16 issue of Publisher's Weekly.

The reviewer adds that the voluminous quantity of data leaves the argument "diffuse."

Bok briefly discuses his approach in the book's preface.

"I could not simply assume that government in the United States was performing badly," Bok said. "Despite the loud complaints directed at politicians and bureaucrats, the claim that they were failing the country was an assertion that deserved careful scrutiny."

To reach his conclusion, Bok compares levels of prosperity, opportunity and personal security, the qualities of life, and the values of today's America with those of the U.S. in 1960 and other contemporary industrialized nations.

While Bok's conclusion about America's relative gains since the 1960s is commonplace, his proposed solutions on the role of government part with conventional wisdom.

"Government is the problem, as well as the most important part of the solution," reads a slogan from a press release by the publisher, Harvard University Press (HUP).

Although its official publication date is Jan. 15, the book has been available since mid-November and has already sold 2,170 of its 3,500 copies, according to Eileen A. Oshea, assistant manager of customer services at HUP.

"It's selling extremely well," Oshea said. "His books generally sell very well anyway," she added.

The idea for the book was presented to Bok by representatives from three foundations during the last week of his Harvard presidency.

"After wandering for a quarter of a century in the trackless desert of academic administration, I had resolved to spend my remaining active years doing what I first came to Harvard to do--reading, thinking, and writing about problems of abiding interest," Bok writes in his preface.

According to Bok, this attempt at a "fair and balanced account of the strengths of our government" will be followed by a second book which will "probe more deeply the question of why our policies and programs so often fail to meet our expectations."

Bok, who served as president from 1971 until 1991, is 300th Anniversary University Professor of the Kennedy School of Government and is currently a member of numerous think tanks

To reach his conclusion, Bok compares levels of prosperity, opportunity and personal security, the qualities of life, and the values of today's America with those of the U.S. in 1960 and other contemporary industrialized nations.

While Bok's conclusion about America's relative gains since the 1960s is commonplace, his proposed solutions on the role of government part with conventional wisdom.

"Government is the problem, as well as the most important part of the solution," reads a slogan from a press release by the publisher, Harvard University Press (HUP).

Although its official publication date is Jan. 15, the book has been available since mid-November and has already sold 2,170 of its 3,500 copies, according to Eileen A. Oshea, assistant manager of customer services at HUP.

"It's selling extremely well," Oshea said. "His books generally sell very well anyway," she added.

The idea for the book was presented to Bok by representatives from three foundations during the last week of his Harvard presidency.

"After wandering for a quarter of a century in the trackless desert of academic administration, I had resolved to spend my remaining active years doing what I first came to Harvard to do--reading, thinking, and writing about problems of abiding interest," Bok writes in his preface.

According to Bok, this attempt at a "fair and balanced account of the strengths of our government" will be followed by a second book which will "probe more deeply the question of why our policies and programs so often fail to meet our expectations."

Bok, who served as president from 1971 until 1991, is 300th Anniversary University Professor of the Kennedy School of Government and is currently a member of numerous think tanks