Communicable Crises. Prevention, Response, and Recovery in the Global Arena (PB)

This volume makes a significant contribution to the crisis management literature. It also adds to our inchoate understanding of network governance:temporary teams and task forces, communities of practice, alliances, and virtual organizations. It hints that the distinction betweennetworks and organizations may be somewhat spurious, a matter of degree rather than kind. Indeed, it seems that this distinction may derivemore from mental models in which we consistently reify organizations than anything else. Finally, the volume emphasizes the functionalimportance of leadership in network governance and puzzles over its provision in the absence of hierarchy. As such, it adds to the contributionsmade by Marc Granovetter (1973), John Seeley Brown and Paul Duguid (1991), Bart Nooteboom (2000), Paul J. DiMaggio (2001),John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt (2001), Laurence O'Toole and Ken Meier (2004), and others, as well as Nancy Roberts' seminal work onwicked problems and hastily formed teams. The result is a product the editor and the contributors can be proud of. Overall, it is one that willedify, surprise, and delight its readers.