This is an excellent overview of institutionalism that I wish I had read as the very first book in my PhD. I'd recommend this book to any student studying institutions, governance, and even more generally political science. Peters overviews the major schools, but also explains the variety of perspectives in each of these schools. I particularly liked the chapter on empirical institutionalism, as I haven't seen much else written about it in journal articles. This book demonstrates why books are still so valuable in academic research (believe it or not, I am frequently teased for reading so many books, instead of just relying on journal articles). This book provides foundational knowledge that is critical but would rarely be published in an article, and certainly not in nearly as much detail.