Description
Book SynopsisElections are, and always have been, the lifeblood of American democracy. Often raucous and sharply contentious, sometimes featuring grand debates about the nation''s future, and invariably full of dramatic moments, elections offer insight into the character and historical evolution of American politics. America at the Ballot Box uses the history of presidential elections to illuminate American political democracy and its development from the early Republic to the late twentieth century.
Some of the contributions in America at the Ballot Box focus on elections that resulted in dramatic political change, including Jefferson''s defeat of Adams in 1800, the 1860 election of Lincoln, and Reagan''s 1980 landslide victory. Others concentrate on contests whose importance lies more in the way they illuminate the broad, underlying processes of political change, such as the corruption controversy of Cleveland''s acrimonious election in 1884 or the advent of television adver
Trade Review
"An exciting collection of new research from major scholars that makes it clear why the historical study of presidential elections should be of interest to all of us." * David Greenberg, Rutgers University *
