Book Reviews and Notices : The American Party System. BY CHARLES EDWARD MERRIAM AND HAROLD FOOTE GOSNELL. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1949. Fourth edition. Pp. vii, 530. $4.65.)

• Date: 01 December 1949
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200457
• Author: Ellsworth E. Weaver
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

673

Professor

McKean

falters

where

the

&dquo;practical&dquo;

man

is

most

likely

to

falter

-

the

immaterial

eludes

him.

The

realistic

details

are

not

in-

terpreted

in

the

light

of

theoretical

knowledge,

a

factor

which

gives

a

kind

of

journalistic

bias

to

the

work.

Theories

of

leadership,

oligarchy,

and

political

motivation

receive,

if

anything,

a

kind

of

&dquo;receiving-line

hand-

shake&dquo;

before

we move

again

into

the

back

room.

A

second

criticism

is

the

failure

to

make

full

use

of

the

material

of

other

disciplines-anthro-

pology,

psychology,

sociology.

From

these

areas

political

science

has

re-

ceived

enormous

stimulation

and

new

insight

in

the

past

ten

years

on

the

subjects

of

political

behavior

under

stress,

the

role

of

the

pre-political

groups,

the

components

of

political

attitudes,

etc.

As

yet

this

material

is

not

assimilated

to

the

older

knowledge;

it

would

have

been

a

service

to

do

this.

Third,

although

Professor

McKean

uses

such

special

studies

as

those

of

Lazersfeld,

Gosnell,

and

Bean

to

good

advantage

in

giving

con-

creteness

to

his

work,

they

are

summarized

so

that

the

methods

of

poli,

tical

science

are

obscured.

Studies

of

this

kind

are

interesting

to

students

not

only

for

their

conclusions,

but

also

for

the

methods

employed.

In

spite

of

these

weaknesses,

the

text

forms

the

basis

for

a

course

in

political

parties

which

will

not

only

inform

students

but

will

excite

their

interest

to

an

unusual

degree.

ROBERT

E.

LANE.

Yale

University.

ROBERT

E.

LANE.

The

American

Party

System.

BY

CHARLES

EDWARD

MERRIAM

AND

HAROLD

FOOTE

GOSNELL.

(New

York:

The

Macmillan

Company.

1949.

Fourth

edition.

Pp.

vii,

530.

$4.65.)

The

chief

reason

offered

for

this

new

edition

of

a

standard

textbook

on

American

political

parties

is

an

alleged

thorough

revision.

Funda~

mentally

the

chapters

remain

the

same,

having

the

same

order

and

chap,

ter

headings

except

that

two

new

chapters

are

added,

one

on

&dquo;What

Suffrage

Means&dquo;

and

one

on

&dquo;Public

Opinion

Polls.&dquo;

The

revising

of

the

main

body

of

the

work

consisted

primarily

of

removing

dated

expressions

and

illustrations

and

bringing

material

up

to

date.

Some

of

these

changes

have

added

to

the

readability

of

the

book

by

striking

out

stilted

phrasing

but

leaving

the

thought

and

general

word-

ing

of

the

sentence

unchanged.

The

two

new

chapters

present

topics

of

special

interest

at

this

time.

The

chapter

on

&dquo;What

Suffrage

Means&dquo;

covers

the

subjects

of

property

qualifications

for

voting,

disfranchisement

of

racial

groups,

citizenship

requirements

for

voting,

operation

of

woman

suffrage,

women

as

elective

office

holders,

appointive

positions,

and

a

general

view

of

suffrage.

Some

of

these

topics

are

a

little

far

afield

from

the

subject,

the

meaning

of

the

suffrage.