Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics - Softcover

Polsby, Nelson W.; Wildavsky, Aaron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1889119261 ISBN 13: 9781889119267

Publisher: Chatham House Pub, 2000

Synopsis

New edition of the standard work first published in 1964. Cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

About the Author:

Nelson W. Polsby is a former Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies and Heller Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. His books include 'New Federalist Paper's (with Alan Brinkley and Kathleen Sullivan).

Aaron Wildavsky, late of the University of California Berkeley, was a pre-eminent scholar and writer on American politics.

Review:

For as long as I can remember, a new presidential season meant a new edition of Polsby & Wildavsky's Presidential Elections. It also meant?and will surely mean again?a slew of misunderstandings by journalists, observers, participants, and students.If only they had read this latest edition, they might begin the season focusing on real possibilities and real developments, arguing about 'where we are now' and not 'where we never were'.... (Shafer, Byron E.)

Presidential Elections is the rare book that is a classic while still being contemporary. Readers not only come to fully understand how presidential elections operate today, but also how the current process came to be, and what it is likely to become in the future. (Squire, Peverill)

With the possible exception of V. O. Key's Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups, it is difficult to think of any other book in the history of American political science that has gone through so many new editions over such an extended time span and with such consistently high quality. What still sets this book apart from its competitors is its sense of perspective: about how day-to-day strategic decisions are affected by the institutional environment, about how the dynamics of presidential elections fit into the larger picture of American national government. (Mayer, William G.)

For as long as I can remember, a new presidential season meant a new edition of Polsby & Wildavsky's Presidential Elections. It also meant—and will surely mean again—a slew of misunderstandings by journalists, observers, participants, and students. If only they had read this latest edition, they might begin the season focusing on real possibilities and real developments, arguing about 'where we are now' and not 'where we never were'. (Shafer, Byron E.)

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatham House Pub
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1889119261
• ISBN 13: 9781889119267
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 340