Book Reviews : Politics Is Adjourned: Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918. By SEWARD W. LIVERMORE. (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1966. Pp. x, 324. $7.50.)

• Date: 01 December 1966
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900427
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Author: Murray C. Havens
• Subject Matter: Articles

749

country

at

this

time:

predominance

in

the

Caribbean,

cooperation

in

the

Far

East,

and

abstention

in

Europe.

The

authors

describe

very

clearly

the

opposition

within

both

Congress

and

the

Navy

to

the

efforts

of

the

modernizers

to

create

a

Naval

War

College.

The

reader

thus

regrets

their

decision

to

dismiss

in

a

few

sentences

similar

resistance

to

the

unsuccessful

attempt

to

establish

a

naval

general

staff

following

the

Spanish-

American

War.

Equally

disappointing

is

their

brief

reference

to

the

creation

of

the

Army’s

General

Staff

in

1903.

On

the

whole,

however,

these

men

have

produced

an

excellent

examination

of

a

significant

period

of

American

diplomatic

history.

One

hopes

that

they

will

investigate

other

little-studied

events

in

this

field

as

quickly

as

possible.

University

of

Idaho

FRED

H.

WINKLER

American

Party

Politics:

Essays

and

Readings.

Edited

by

DONALD

G.

HERZBERG

and

GERALD

M.

POMPER.

(New

York:

Holt,

Rinehart,

and

Winston,

1966.

Pp.

xiv,

562.

$5.95

paper.)

Here

is

a

book

of

readings

which

is

carefully

edited,

sensibly

organized,

and

well

integrated.

It

should

find

widespread

use

in

the

classroom.

Each

major

sec-

tion

has

an

introductory

essay

by

one

of

the

authors.

Pomper,

whose

credentials

as

a

competent

student

of

parties

and

elections

were

established

by

his

book

on

the

national

conventions,

has

written

the

essays

on

party

systems,

the

electoral

process,

and

voting

behavior.

Herzberg,

who

has

no

peer

among

political

scientists

in

practical

political

experience,

has

written

the

essays

on

the

practice

of

politics,

party

organization,

party

in

government,

and

reform.

The

major

weakness

of

the

book

is

that

only

three

selections

are

included

in

the

section

on

&dquo;party

in

government.&dquo;

But

this

shallowness

accurately

reflects

the

state

of

literature

on

that

subject.

Regrettably

there

has

been

very

little

research

on

this

important

topic.

And

much

of

that

which

is

available

would

not

be

appro-

priate

for

a

book

of

readings.

The

dilemma

is

a

real

one.

Surely

the

role

of

the

party

in

government

requires

at

least

half

as

much

attention

in

a

course

on

political

parties

as

the

role

of

the

party

in

elections.

But

we

cannot

teach

what

we

do

not

know.

I

heartily

recommend

this

book

of

readings

to

those

who

are

looking

for

a

good

and

diversified

selection

of

the

best

literature

on

American

political

parties

and

elections.

University

of

Arizona

CHARLES

O.

JONES

Politics

Is

Adjourned:

Woodrow

Wilson

and

the

War

Congress,

1916-1918.

By

SEWARD

W.

LIVERMORE.

(Middletown,

Conn.:

Wesleyan

University

Press,

1966.

Pp.

x,

324.

$7.50.)

The

1918

congressional

election

was

surely

one

of

the

more

significant

of

American

off-year

elections.

Gaining

control

of

both

houses

of

Congress,

though