Prisms of the People: Power and Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America

Abstract

offers several exciting new avenues for future research. McNally argues future research should consider the relationship between legislative reputations and members’ legislative effectiveness, campaign promises, and progressive ambition. Additionally, I think future research could consider whether McNally’s conceptualization of legislative reputations can be expanded to consider the representation of other groups and whether there are factors other than the advocacy window that cause members to work toward specific reputations. McNally only considers actions taken by members once elected to office in constructing their legislative reputation scores, but future research could consider how members’ experiences prior to being elected influence the reputations they pursue. Overall, I believe Representing the Disadvantaged should be of interest to scholars of American politics broadly and will likely become required readings for classes on Congress and representation.