“A gold mine! Imaginative, daring, and highly intelligent. Stone talks back to the pseudo-scientific policy wonks and hears voices of people who are usually silenced at the policy table.”

– Carol Stack, University of California at Berkeley

“This classic has inspired generations of students, scholars, and public officials to be more reflective about the ambiguities and paradoxes that drive politics.”

– Laura Jensen, Virginia Tech

“One of my favorite political scientists, Deborah Stone, wrote that much of the policy process involves debates about values masquerading as debates about numbers and facts. Although her construct is abundantly in evidence, it is being overlooked in the current debate over the future of the Affordable Care Act.”

– John McDonough, Harvard School of Public Health and long-time Executive Director of Health Care for All

“You illuminate the nuances of policymaking in a way that has fundamentally changed how my cadets consider the choices our government makes.”

– LTC Heidi B. Demarest, United States Military Academy

“I have taught this book to a vast range of students, from undergraduates in the Ivy League to brilliant students incarcerated in prisons. No matter the context, it’s always a hit and motivates students to think deeply, ask tough questions, reconsider assumptions, and reevaluate established paradigms.”

– Jamila Michener, Cornell University

“One does not remain in this teaching business without a deep reservoir of hope. Your book replenished that reservoir for me. I hope my students feel (and maybe even think) the same way.”

– Christopher Bellavita, Naval Postgraduate School Homeland Security Program

“You have an ability to make people aware of what we don’t even know we think and take for granted.“

– Student, University of Amsterdam