"What are the consequences if the people given control over our government have no idea how it works? 'The election happened,' remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. 'And then there was radio silence.' Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some...

"A bold call to reexamine how our government operates-and sometimes fails to-from President Obama's former deputy chief technology officer and the founder of Code for America. Just when we most need our government to work-to decarbonize our infrastructure and economy, to help the vulnerable through a pandemic, to defend ourselves against global threats-it is faltering. Government at all levels has limped into the digital age, offering online services...

"Each year unelected federal administrators write thousands of regulations possessing the force of law. What do these civil servants know about the American people whom they ostensibly serve? Not much, according to this enlightening and disturbing study. The authors surveyed federal agency officials, congressional and White House staffers, and employees of various policy-making organizations about their attitudes toward and knowledge of the public....

"The executive branch is more than just the president. It has departments, agencies, and commissions that help the president run the country. Young readers discover how a large team puts policies into action"--

"Despite assertions about the unprecedented nature of his presidency, few of Trump's policies have been novel; many had been proposed in varied form throughout the latter years of the 20th century. Yet it was not until 9/11 that many of these policies started to take hold. In this intellectual and political history, Greenberg traces the evolving language, law, governance and policy that began to redefine the nation in the wake of 9/11 and shows how...