In compiling this collection of previously unpublished essays, Seroka was prompted by several concerns about current administrative responses and opportunities for change in rural areas. Specfically, these concerns were that the rural renaissance has placed administrative offices and officials in affected governmental units under severe and unanticipated stress; that rural policy programs require specific considerations which are divided from urban-based programs; and that rural governmental units must be studied flexibly, and not as a single monolithic block. Particular subjects discussed include the theory of rural administrative change, rural administration in the township, administration under "boom and bust" circumstances, policy variations in rural areas, the impact of intergovernmental fundings on rural policymaking, and policy limitations and constraints on rural public administration. The volume is divided into four distinct units. In the first, alternate models for rural public administration are introduced. In the second, the rural administrative environment is defined and described. The third examines particular rural administrative responses to immediate and specific problems. In the fourth part the editor offers an overall assessment of rural public administration research.