Excellent and concise studies of a series of U.S. governmental actions on food and trade since 1972 make up the bulk of this book. Valuable in themselves, they are used to show the difficulty of balancing domestic and foreign, economic and political factors in shaping foreign economic policy and the resulting organizational conundrums. An expert in these matters, Mr. Destler makes precise recommendations for White House coordination, but he knows as well as anyone that whether they will work depends upon who works them.