Product Description
With practical advice for the reader considering a career in federal, state, or local government, this book conveys what life is really like in a public service job. It is written as a series of letters of advice from a sympathetic uncle embarking on a government career.The author draws on more than 40 years of public sector experience to provide advice on the daily challenges that future public servants can be expected to face: working with politicians, bureaucracy… More >>
Caught Between the Dog and the Fireplug, Or, How to Survive Public Service
Tags: Between, bureaucracy, Caught, Fireplug, government career, letters of advice, local government, politicians, Public, public sector, public servants, sector experience, Service, service job, Survive
#1 by S. Embry on April 17, 2010 - 5:11 pm
This book is excellent for anyone starting in public service and especially starting in public service in Washington, DC. Advice from this author is written in letterform from Uncle Ken to an androgynous niece or nephew, Kim, who has chosen public service as an honorable career choice. In monthly letters to Kim, Uncle Ken tells stories of his years as a public servant. Each monthly letter has a theme on how to succeed in the life of social engineering; another term for public service that isn’t used as much as it used to be. The book is filled with personal stories of success and failure and quotes from many notables and legends. Tidbits such as “You cannot walk with kings more than very occasionally if all you know is your area of specialization, regardless of how thoroughly you may know it;” and F Scott’s Fitzgerald “You must have the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function;” and the more down to earth quote from a boss who was upset with him at the time, “When I agree with you, you are operating within the power we have delegated to you. When I disagree with you, you are exceeding your authority.”
This book will make you smile and shake your head at the same time. Anyone who has been in public service will read the stories and say, “yep, been there, done that, got that tee shirt.” It’s a good book that I enjoyed.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by W. Singer on April 17, 2010 - 7:12 pm
There really aren’t enough books about what it’s like to work in public service. This one is a pleasure to read, and I’ve given it to colleagues when I really want them to succeed.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Midwest Book Review on April 17, 2010 - 9:32 pm
Caught Between The Dog And The Fireplug, Or How To Survive Public Service by Kenneth Ashworth (adjunct professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin) is a unique employment guidebook and commentary filled with practical and sound advice for anyone considering, pursuing, or currently working in a career related to federal, state, or local government. Ashworth writes in the novel format of numerous, entertaining, and wryly informative letters from a sympathetic uncle to a niece or nephew beginning a government career. A “must” for all anyone aspiring to a career in public service at any level, Caught Between The Dog And The Fireplug is highly readable yet filled with sensible observations and recommendations.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Babushka on April 17, 2010 - 9:58 pm
Had this book for an MPA class–it was the hidden gem for that semester! The advice is given in an easy-to-read narrative, presented as personal correspondence between an uncle and his neice/nephew who are aspiring to public service careers. The insights are powerful and the prose is well-written. A must-read for those with an interest in the public or non-profit sectors.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by J. Naik on April 18, 2010 - 12:05 am
In his book “Caught between the dog and the fireplug”, Ashworth has managed to take the sometimes boring subject of public service and made it humorous and anecdotal. Definitely a worthwhile reading for any student of public administration and especially beneficial to me, since I am involved in the educational field of public sector. It gives us real life applications of public administration theories and models used to formulate public policies by the author and behind the scenes look at public policy in the making. Ashworth feels the pressures of being a public servant who is required to serve the needs of the people but is at the same time has to answer to the requests of elected officials who are “never equal” in status to a public servant. It gives credence to theories by many experts who believe that elaborate constraints on public managers deprive them of authority to carry out their jobs and frustrate them professionally. In spite of this the author continues to do his job the best he can inside of the constraints of his domain and manages to influence public policy to benefit the public that he serves from the “bottom-up”.
Rating: 5 / 5