Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking . By Keith Krehbiel. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1998. 258p. $50.00 cloth, $17.00 paper.

several chapters offer theoretical insights into the tourism industry and government promotion of tourism, such as Charles Euchner's study on sports and the chapter by Sabina Deitrick, Robert A. Beauregard, and Chery Zarlenga Kerchis on riverboat gambling. Anyone who has traveled to any theme park or visited any city's tourist bubble can hardly deny the sameness of the experiences (e.g., one can experience a rain forest without ever leaving the desert). The sameness may create consternation among those who want the real thing and who value diversity. Despite the strong case that tourism has been "commodified" (the study by Saskia Sassen and Frank Roost on the "global" entertainment industry is fascinating in that regard), the reader is not told why the consumer would want to pay for it. Keeping construction (and franchise) costs low by mass-producing sameness certainly explains the allure of tourist sites for investors, but why should hundreds of thousands of consumers choose to travel hundreds of miles to have the same experience that they could have had by traveling a thousand miles? Do tourists value the diversity of culture, history, and entertainment, or is it the universal experience that they seek? A study of tourist tastes and consumption patterns would be an important complement to this book.