It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. By Jennifer Lawless and Richard L. Fox. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 220p. $65.00 cloth, $22.99 paper.

Women and Elective Office: Past, Present, and Future. Edited by Sue Thomas and Clyde Wilcox. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 344p. $21.95.

In comparative perspective, the United States ranks fifty-seventh among the world's nations in terms of female legislative representation. Even elections to state positions, where women have gained over 20% of seats, have lagged in recent years, reflecting a kind of stagnation in the opportunity structure for women at all levels of the political system. However, when women run for office, they win in the same proportions as their male counterparts.