PLAYING FOR KEEPS: THE MAKING OF THE PRIME MINISTER, 1988 Graham Fraser Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1989. 491pp, cloth, $28.95 ISBN 0-7710-3208-0. CIP Grades 12 and up/Ages 17 and up Reviewed by Violet Williams. Volume 18 Number 2 1990 March Playing for Keeps provides a detailed outline of the back-room political strategies of the three parties in the 1988 federal election campaign in Canada. Mulroney wins the election because he is the most skillful political manager. Turner is unable to deal with the internal dissension within the Liberal Party and Broadbent cannot control the radical Quebec elements of the New Democratic Party. Major topics covered are these: the backgrounds of the three party leaders, the TV debates and commercials, polling, the free trade issue in the 1988 and 1911 elections, and Mulroney's success in winning Conservative support in Quebec. Fraser considers the 1988 election to be remarkable because of the real three-way race between the parties, the heavy use of media marketing techniques and polling, the actual presenve in the campaign of a policy issue (free trade), and a leadership stuggle, which led to the retirement of two unsuccessful party leaders. Fraser claims that he uses a chronological approach with three time periods: pre-election, pre-TV debates, and post-TV debates. Yet the first chapter deals with election-day trivia, and pre-election-day party building by the Conservatives in Quebec appears in the last part of the book. The detailed narrative of the back-room election planning is tedious. Playing for Keeps would be suitable for senior high school students with a keen interest in politics. Violet Williams, A.Y.Jackson Secondary School, Kanata, Ont.