Books, Arts & Manners: Rise and Fall of the Great Power

The Postmodern President: The White House Meets the World, by Richard Rose (Chatham House, 360 pp., $17.95)

Richard Rose presents us with a panoramic view of the American Presidency. His purpose is to show how over the past two decades changing economic and political conditions, both domestic and international, have served to circumscribe the powers of this office, leading to the relatively powerless “postmodern” Presidency.