"Informative and refreshing, this book exposes the complexities and challenges of how governments work. The authors are former senior career civil servants with more than 60 years of service combined. They've worked in many different government departments. Their mission in this book: to explain how government bureaucracies operate, and why they do what they do. The authors tackle hiring, firing, budgeting, policy development, decision-making and spending. They explain how bureaucracies work (and don't work) with politicians, the media, interest groups, lobbyists and fellow bureaucrats. They use personal experiences as well as insights from academics, politicians and other bureaucrats to illustrate their account. The result is often entertaining, sometimes even funny. This is a perfect book for civil servants, politicians, media, unions, lobbyists, and others who work closely with government bureaucracies across Canada."--