In this readable and useful volume, Medearis (Univ. of California, Riverside) offers an imaginative remedy to some of the current ills of democratic life in America. From his perspective, democracy is an “egalitarian arrangement” that suffers from a “spiraling loss” of “control” (p. 2) that must be abated. Most actions of elites and the American government have been premised upon not engaging or mobilizing the “ public” (p. 211). The author’s remedy is to provide a new theory of oppositional democracy, grounded in the radical tradition of American politics, that can overcome limitations of contemporary democratic theory, especially the theory of deliberative democracy. The reliance upon Marx’s and Dewey’s critique of alienation and democracy in Chapter 2 is counterproductive, as Marx’s own theory cannot be dissociated from alienation at its best, and the potential of dehumanization at its worst. Chapters 3, 4, and 5, however, provide the reader with an engaging new interpretation of democratic action. The limits of democratic theory, as well as any potential remedy, are also thoughtfully articulated and explained in this book.