The Presidency and the Political System

Since the first edition published in 1984, The Presidency and the Political System has become the most widely assigned book in courses on the presidency.With its incisive and insightful original essays showcasing top-notch scholarship, it’s no surprise that this volume has proven to be both enduring and indispensable. Joining revised, yet time-tested, essays that continue to explore the themes of presidential power and effectiveness, contributions by new authors Lyn Ragsdale, George C. Edwards III, Marc Landy, Joseph Pika, and Andrew Rudalevige complete the updating to reflect GeorgeW. Bush’s second term, the 2008 elections, and Barack Obama’s transition and early months as president.

Michael Nelson is Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College and a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. A former editor of the Washington Monthly, his most recent books include Trump’s First Year (2018); The Elections of 2016 (2018); The Evolving Presidency: Landmark Documents (2019); The American Presidency: Origins and Development (with Sidney M. Milkis, 2011); and Governing at Home: The White House and Domestic Policymaking (with Russell B. Riley, 2011). Nelson has contributed to numerous journals, including the Journal of Policy History, Journal of Politics, and Political Science Quarterly. He also has written multiple articles on subjects as varied as baseball, Frank Sinatra, and C. S. Lewis. More than fifty of his articles have been anthologized in works of political science, history, and English composition.  His 2014 book, Resilient America: Electing Nixon, Channeling Dissent, and Dividing Government, won the American Political Science Association’s Richard E. Neustadt Award for best book on the presidency published that year; and his 2006 book with John Lyman Mason, How the South Joined the Gambling Nation, won the Southern Political Science Association’s V.O. Key Award.