For more than a decade, Managing Public Disputes has beenthe first choice, hands-on guide for managers, offering usefulinstructions for handling a wide range of large and small publiccontroversies from the national to the community level. Itincludes:
* Ten proven principles for managing conflict
* A comprehensive framework with step-by-step procedures forcreating productive outcomes
* Seven illustrative case examples
* Detailed advice on effective methods for collectinginformation, conducting interviews, and analyzing a conflictsituation
* Suggestions for handling special problems such as reluctantparticipants, keeping people at the negotiation table, and handlingsituations where emotions are running high
* Eight tasks targeted for designing an overall strategy formanaging public disputes

SUSAN L. CARPENTER is a mediator and trainer. She is thefounding director of the Program for Community Problem Solving inWashington, D.C. and a founding board member of the InternationalAssociation of Public Participation. She was the associate directorof ACCORD Associates, a nonprofit conflict management organizationin Boulder, Colorado for ten years.

W.J.D. KENNEDY was the executive director of ACCORDAssociates for fourteen years. He has consulted with a wide varietyof private organizations and city, county, state, and federalagencies.