Fritz Sager, and Patrick Overeem, eds., The European Public Servant: A Shared Administrative Identity? Colchester: ECPR Press, 2015. 326pp. Hardback £65.00, ISBN: 9781907301742 Paperback £30.00, ISBN: 9781785522338 Fritz Sager, Christian Rosser, Céline Mavrot, and Pascal Y. Hurni. A Transatlantic History of Public Administration. Analyzing the USA, Germany and France. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2018. 224 pp. Hardback £67.50, ISBN: 9781788113748 E‐book €25, eISBN: 9781788113755

The books reviewed here offer an original key to understanding Western public administration and public service culture at both the individual and the organizational levels. While the first is a collective work revealing a multifaceted investigation that employs a variety of research methods, the second is conceived as a coherent narrative and draws eminently upon public administration theory. Together, they significantly advance knowledge in the field of national bureaucracies in Europe and the United States, as well as shedding light on some often-overlooked aspects of such major policy actors. The perspectives adopted in these works are often neglected in scholarly studies despite their centrality to understanding public administration thought and praxis. The two books include a variety of analytical levels, ranging from theoretical debates to administrative practice and perceptions. Moreover, their introduction of original viewpoints into the academic debate is not only likely to productively affect research and theory but also to confer more awareness on the public servants’ role vis-à-vis political power and policy making. The public servant figure is understood here as having a formal appointment and a duty to serve the public, in line with prevailing contemporary conceptions (see, for instance, Kettl 2019). This conception is the ultimate stage of historical debates over whether the adviser should be primarily accountable to the ruled or the rulers. This aspect is carefully dealt with, particularly through Paul's chapter in The European Public Servant, and represents one of the main highlights that is brought to our attention. In this review, I emphasize the most noteworthy features of each book while underscoring the intersections within and between them. Public Administration, when capitalized, is understood as a discipline.