THE PUNDITS: POWER, POLITICS AND THE PRESS. Tataryn, Lloyd. Toronto. Deneau. c1985. 198pp. cloth, $19.95. ISBN 0-88879-123-2.CIP Grades 12 and up Reviewed by Ted Monkhouse Volume 14 Number 3 1986 May This is Sudbury-born Tataryn's third investigative book after Dying for a Living* and Formaldehyde on Trial.** He has been a producer of CBC's "As It Happens" and held positions on Capital Hill and in journalism at the University of Western Ontario. This latest investigation is of the print media political pundits of Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, preceded by a chapter, "Objectivity and the Art of Political Columning." The introductory twenty-eight pages are a fascinating historical and contemporary look at how political columnists have evolved into their presenl power position. The remainder of the work deals with American savants, then British, and finally Canadian journalists. If the remaining chapters had been handled in the same way as the American section, the book would have been much more satisfying, since everything not American seems to be measured against the American model as the ideal. The American comparisons seem to dominate within the British section. The Canadian section seems to have an inordinate amount of print spent on non-pundits like Allan Fotheringham. Perhaps this is necessary, and the American pundit is the western world's ideal, if pundits are mandated to influence and change the political process. Tataryn's writing style is refreshingly chatty, making the book as easy to read as a good novel. He has taken the freedom to make his own biased reflections on what should be. For a budding journalist this would be a recommended read and it would also serve well in any library's careers section. Eminently readable by any lay person who reads the newspaper and watches occasional in-depth investigative news programs. Ted Monkhouse, Wellington County Board of Education. Guelph, Ont. *Reviewed vol. VIM/2 Spring 1980 p. 86. **Reviewed vol. XI1/3 May 1984 p.