The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister

The British TV series Yes Minister (shown here on PBS) began as an innocuous spoof on the vagaries of politicians and civil servants. Its popularity increased as it developed a deepening satiric perception of how the British are actually governed: Ministers are kept in the dark by their civil service advisers as much as possible; their sole domain is ""making policy,'' while the civil servants get on with running the country and making sure the politicians get the blame. In turning their scripts into a book, the authors have gone beyond a simple recounting of the episodes. Presented as actual memoirsthe diary of James Hacker, Minister for the Department of Administrative Affairs, augmented by material from his two civil service advisers, Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard WooleyYes Minister is an amusingly literate, sharply satirical account of the exchanges of quid pro quo necessary to run any government. The book surpasses its TV origins and stands firmly on its own merits. On the bestseller lists in England for over three years, this provocative satire could well be considered a British Doonesbury. 25,000 first printing. (May 25)