Elliot Richardson, who resigned as Attorney General rather than heed President Richard Nixon"s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, has issued a sobering message to Republicans in this collection of political opinions. "Since when has it been conservative for Americans to turn their backs on the poor?" he asks. Richardson terms his advocacy of moderation "radical" because there seems to be so little of it in the current political discourse and then sets about addressing moderation in a variety of issues. The book is less reflections of his experience than it is his observations from and for the present. They are observations worth noting.