Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Political Science as a Profession -- The Early Years -- The Locus of Higher Education -- The Contradictions of a Political Discipline -- The Mid-Century Liberal Matrix -- The New View of Science and Politics -- The Behavioral Persuasion -- The Decade of Disillusionment -- The Community of Political Scholars -- Politics, Publishing, Truth, and Wisdom -- Political Laws, Community Power, and Critical Theory -- Conclusions -- The Tragedy of Political Science.

"This book is both a comprehensive review and a thoughtful critique of the development of political science as an academic discipline in this century. David Ricci eloquently describes the tragic dilemma of political science in America: when political scholars deal with politics in a scientific fashion, they reveal facts that contradict democratic expectations; when the same scholars seek to justify those expectations, their moral arguments carry little professional weight."--Jacket.