In this revised and expanded edition, Thompson brings together 33 classic articles and book chapter reprints in one volume to give students a grounding in the history, development and current status of public personnel policy in the United States.

Part I: Beginnings: Politics and personnel policy. Americanizing a foreign invention: The Pendleton Act of 1833 - P P Van Riper; The Pendleton Act - US Congress; Merit systems and politics - F J Goodnow; Merit, morality, and democracy - F C Mosher; Part II: Merit systems and executive leadership. The idea of Civil Service: A third force? - H Heclo; The Civil Service Commission & executive leadership - W E Mosher and J D Kingsley; Reorganization & improvement of personnel administration - President's Committee on Administrative Management; The Malek Manual - White House Personnel Office; Testimony on Civil Service reform and reorganization - A K Campbell; Brangti vs Finkel - US Supreme Court; Part III: Merit systems: Triumph and discontent. The silent revolution in patronage - F J Sorauf; State and local personnel administration - A H Aronson; Profesionalization of personnel - M Derthick; The triumph of techniques over purpose - W Sayre; The Civil Service: A Meritles system? - E S Savas and S G Ginsburg; New concepts for personnel management - National Academy of Public Administration; Position classification: A behavioral analysis for the public service - J M Shfritz; Performance appraisal: If only people were not involved - J Nalbandian; Merit pay in the public sector: The case for a failure of theory - J A Perry; Devoloping the will and capacity to conform - H Kaufman; Part IV: Equal employment opportunity and representation.