Book Reviews : A History of Presidential Elections. By EUGENE H. ROSEBOOM. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1964. Pp. vi, 600. $10.00.)

AuthorFreeman Holmer
Published date01 March 1966
Date01 March 1966
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/106591296601900149
Subject MatterArticles
192
The
European
Right.
A
Historical
Survey.
Edited
by
HANS
ROGGER
and
EUGEN
WEBER.
(Berkeley
and
Los
Angeles:
University
of
California
Press,
1965.
Pp.
vi, 589.
$9.50.)
This
is
an
extremely
useful
book
for
students
of
political
theory
or
political
parties
and
indeed
for
everyone
concerned
with
politics.
Eleven
chapters
by
special-
ists
describe
the
history
of
anti-parliamentary
movements
of
the
Right
in
as
many
European
countries
in
the
past
hundred
years.
Since
the
chapters
average
less
than
fifty
pages,
they
are
impressionistic
essays
rather
than
exhaustive
narratives.
Richard
Oastler
is
omitted
from
the
chapter
on
England,
and
the
Dreyfus
affair
from
the
chapter
on
France.
Surprisingly,
although
corporativism
appears
as
an
economic
formula
of
the
Right
in
almost
every
chapter,
Rerum
lVovarum
and
Quadragesimo
Anno
are
nowhere
mentioned
in
the
entire
book.
In
introductory
and
concluding
essays
the
editors
attempt
to
establish
a
socio-
logical
framework.
They
entertain
and
reject
Lipset’s
typology
of
movements;
this
is
certainly
inadequate,
but
they
produce
no
coherent
substitute.
We
are
told
that
neither
nationalism
nor
fascism
is
necessarily
of
the
Right,
but
these
are
the
chief
topics
of
all
the
chapters.
Probably
it
would
have
been
wiser
to
rely
for
integration
on
a
general
historical
survey
which
interwove
the
themes
of
national
tradition,
corporativism,
authoritarianism,
and
anti-Semitism
which
run
through
all
the
move-
ments.
The
origin,
the
direction,
and
the
dynamics
of
these
movements
are
easily
enough
explained
historically.
Individualism,
anti-clericalism,
parliamentarism,
and
capitalism
represented
the
thrust
of
history
in
the
nineteenth
century.
In
rela-
tively
advanced
countries,
the
defense
of
traditional
values
against
these
solvents
fell
to
the
groups
jeopardized
by
progress:
the
clergy,
the
nobility,
the
army,
and
the
petty
bourgeoisie.
In
countries
where
innovation
could
be
identified
with
foreign
control,
it
was
possible
to
enlist
the
peasantry;
but
these
national
peasant
move-
ments,
as
Weber
observes
in
the
chapter
on
Roumania,
bear
more
resemblance
to
the
messianism
of
Africa
and
the
Pacific
Islands
than
to
the
authoritarianism
of
west
European
reaction.
All
the
essays
are
learned
and
literate.
Seldom
does
a
collaborative
work
achieve
such
a
high
level.
FRANCIS
D.
WORMUTH
Johns
Hopkins
University,
Bologna
Center
A
History
of
Presidential
Elections.
By
EUGENE
H.
ROSEBOOM.
(New
York:
The
Macmillan
Company, 1964.
Pp. vi, 600.
$10.00.)
Although
it
is
not
labeled
externally
as
a
second
edition,
this
is
an
extended
ver-
sion
of
the
book
originally
published
in
1957.
It
therefore
adds
a
chapter
describing
the
election
of
1960
and
including
a
prologue
to
the
election
of
1964.
Roseboom’s
book
is,
inevitably,
a
history
of
the
United
States
that
uses
the
special
focus
of
presidential
politics.
The
result
is
in
some
ways
revealing
but
is
also
partial
and
distorted.
It
touches
on
the
broad
and
obvious
forces
shaping
American
history
and
relates
them
to
the
presidential
elections
influenced
by
them.
There
are,

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