  The decays of $B$ mesons to charmless final states consisting of a vector
meson ($V$) and a pseudoscalar meson ($P$) are analyzed within flavor SU(3).
Predictions are compared with new data from the CLEO Collaboration. Dominant
contributions to amplitudes and subdominant interfering terms are identified.
Evidence is found for a specific penguin amplitude (contributing, for example,
to $B^+ \to \rho^+ K^0$) at a level much higher than that implied by most
explicit models. The validity of the conclusion $\cos \gamma < 0$, obtained
through other analyses of $B \to VP$ decays, is examined here from a less
model-dependent standpoint. It is found that several processes are consistent
with $\cos \gamma < 0$ (or $\cos \alpha > 0$), and measurements are suggested
which could make this conclusion more robust.
