Book Reviews : NOTICE: Departmental Chairmen can assist the Book Review Editor as well as their colleagues, particularly the younger ones, by sending in a list of the people in their department, and the reuiew interests of each. Lists should be sent to: Western Political Quarterly, Book Review Editor, Col lege of Liberal Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281

• Author: Roy V. Peel
• Date: 01 December 1972
• DOI: 10.1177/106591297202500415
• Published date: 01 December 1972
• Subject Matter: Articles

789

BOOK

REVIEWS

NOTICE:

Departmental

Chairmen

can

assist

the

Book

Review

Editor

as

well

as

their

colleagues,

particularly

the

younger

ones,

by

sending

in

a

list

of

the

people

in

their

department,

and

the

reuiew

interests

of

each.

Lists

should

be

sent

to:

Western

Political

Quarterly,

Book

Review

Editor,

Col-

lege

of

Liberal

Arts,

Arizona

State

University,

Tempe,

Arizona

85281.

The

Coming

to

Power:

Critical

Presidential

Elections

in

American

History.

Edited

by

ARTHUR

M.

SCHLESINGER,

Jap.,

et

al.

(New

York:

Chelsa

House

Pub-

lishers,

1971,

1972.

Pp. xxi, 550.

$12.50.)

I

would

guess

that

in

addition

to

the

seventeen

distinguished

authors

who

con-

tributed

to

the

present

work,

the

editor

was

assisted

by

forty

other

historians

and

specialists

in

compiling

the

larger

work.

To

me,

there

is

not

much

that

is

new

in

this

study.

I

wondered:

why

a

new

historical

series?

Naturally,

there

can

be

nothing

new

in

a

series

covering

our

early

experience

from

Washington

to

modern

times.

Those

who

have

not

had

the

time

and

curiosity

to

search

through

all

our

historical

records

will

find

these

essays

of

great

value.

But

many

modern

scholars

who

want

to

see

what

are

the

patterns

of

past

political

behavior

will

prefer

the

studies

of

Louis

Bean,

Ballot

Behavior,

1940,

to

How

America

Votes

in

Presidential

Elections,

1968.

Or,

the

works

of

the

Lazarsfeld-Campbell-Converse

school,

all

of

which

attempted

to

determine

secular

trends

as

well

as

cyclical,

demographic,

and

geographic

variations.

Bean

found

that

there

was

a

high

coincidence

between

economic

changes

and

politi-

cal

deviations,

also

between

national,

state,

and

local

patterns.

Other

factors

in

changing

electoral

patterns

were

found

by

me

and

my

colleagues

to

depend

on

the

character,

strategies

and

tactics

of

the

candidates,

the

way

in

which

the

issues

were

defined,

and

the

kind

of

support

they

got

from

party

leaders,

the

wealthy

contribu-

tors,

and

the

media.

The

chapters

in

The

Coming

to

Power

are

all

well

written.

Some

of

the

earlier

chapters,

especially

the

one

on

1876,

mention

events

and

personalities

such

as

Cox,

Revels,

Bristow,

Lane,

and

Springer,

that

the

ordinary

citizen

will

not

recognize.

And

Blaine,

who

held

the

lead

through

six

ballots,

is

rather

cavalierly

dismissed.

Still,

the

judgments

on

men

and

issues

in

this

and

other

chapters

are

usually

sound.

Scholarly

Presidents

such

as

Wilson

and

Truman

can

learn

from

historical

works

of

this

type

what

American

ideals

are

and

how

they

developed

and

also

how

men

aspiring

to

obtain

and

maintain

positions

of

leadership

conduct

themselves.

But

the

professionals

who

advise

them

can

learn

more

from

Bean

and

the

behavioral

scien-

tists

where

to

look

for

support

and

when

to

launch

their

campaigns.

Possibly

1972

will

give

us

a

chance

to

test

this

thesis.

California

State

University,

Northridge

Roy

V.

PEEL