Political Disagreement: The Survival of Diverse Opinions within Communications Networks. By Robert Huckfeldt, Paul E. Johnson, and John Sprague. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 272p. $70.00 cloth, $26.99 paper.

The political science world today is filled with “must-read” books, and so it is with trepidation that I seek to add another tome to the list. Nonetheless, this new study by Robert Huckfeldt, Paul Johnson, and John Sprague addresses an important problem and does so with such innovative and well-executed theory and data that I have no doubt whatsoever that the book deserves such recognition; indeed, it should is a must-read for all social scientists interested in how democracies can be sustained. This is a bold claim, so let me explain.