Synopses & Reviews
The role the South has played in contemporary conservatism is perhaps the most consequential political phenomenon of the second half of the twentieth century. The regions transition from Democratic stronghold to Republican base has frequently been viewed as a recent occurrence, one that largely stems from a 1960s-era backlash against left-leaning social movements. But as Joseph Lowndes argues in this book, this rightward shift was not necessarily a natural response by alienated whites, but rather the result of the long-term development of an alliance between Southern segregationists and Northern conservatives, two groups who initially shared little beyond opposition to specific New Deal imperatives.
Lowndes focuses his narrative on the formative period between the end of the Second World War and the Nixon years. By looking at the 1948 Dixiecrat Revolt, the presidential campaigns of George Wallace, and popular representations of the region, he shows the many ways in which the South changed during these decades. Lowndes traces how a new alliance began to emerge by further examining the pages of the National Review and Republican party-building efforts in the South during the campaigns of Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Nixon. The unique characteristics of American conservatism were forged in the crucible of race relations in the South, he argues, and his analysis of party-building efforts, national institutions, and the innovations of particular political actors provides a keen look into the ideology of modern conservatism and the Republican Party.
Review
'\"This book brilliantly describes the ideology of American conservatism. A richly detailed analysis that helps illuminate the development, rise, and the discursive peculiarities of this political movement.\"Anne Norton, author of
Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire -- Sean O\'Rain - Pacific Affairs'
Review
"Evocative and analytical, this historical portrait shows how racial change in the South opened the door to conservative mobilization. Its powerful account of how a cross-regional alliance of white supremacists and business-oriented anti-New Dealers fundamentally reoriented American politics advances our understanding not just of pathways to the present, but of prospects for the future."Ira Katznelson, author of
When Affirmative Action Was White -- Anne Norton
Review
"In reconstructing the intellectual, ideological, cultural, and institutional histories of the New Rights genesis and development,
From the New Deal to the New Right challenges many conventional views about the movements origins and content. This is an important contribution to our understanding of the southern, and racialist, roots of modern conservatism and with its rich, interdisciplinary focus, provides a very useful model of what the systematic study of politics can be."Adolph Reed Jr., University of Pennsylvania
-- Ira Katznelson
Review
'\"An indispensable contribution which taken as a whole shows how ambitious and challenging David Mayhews view of American politics really is.\"Rick Valelly, Swarthmore College
-- Peter H. Reid - Library and Information History'
Review
'\"A cornucopia of original and instructive analyses of politics and policy-making in the United States. No student of American politics should miss it.\"Fred Greenstein, Princeton University
-- Rick Valelly'
Review
“Wars, recessions, critical elections. Its all here. With a keen eye and deft hand, David Mayhew paints a sweeping picture of the big events in American politics over the past 100 yearshow the electorate has reacted and how the government has responded. Mayhew proves once again to be one of Americas great political scientists and historians.”Stephen Ansolabehere, Harvard University
-- Fred Greenstein
Review
"David Mayhews original, lucid, and bracing essays have powerfully shaped thought about Congress, elections, parties, institutional rules, and the conduct of analytical history. What a treat, therefore, to have these pathbreaking analyses and reflections between covers!"Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University
-- Stephen Ansolabehere
Review
"This is a spirited and scouring intellectual history, likely to become a minor classic. What is called conservative is shown to be a uniquely American core of convictions repeatedly summoned to hold the fort against waves of Europeanizing assailants."Charles Hill, Hoover Institution, Stanford University -- Choice
Review
'\"Patrick Allitt has written a perceptive, rigorously balanced, and richly panoramic account of conservative ideas and thinkers in American politics and culture since 1787. This is a welcome indeed, necessary book.\"George H. Nash, author of The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 -- Charles Hill'
Review
"Allitt shows how conservatism has an American history best understood in terms of its fluid meanings, plural definitions, and oppositional currents."David Hoeveler, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
-- George H. Nash
Review
'\"Allitts writing is lively, and he has a gift for summarizing the complicated ideas he deals with in this welcome history.\"Leo P. Ribuffo, George Washington University
-- David Hoeveler'
Review
“[Allitts] sketches are on target, quick, and well done. … Professor Allitt has succeeded in his goal. He writes with vigor, clarity, style, enthusiasm, and high intelligence. He obviously enjoys his subject thoroughly, and it must be a great pleasure to take his courses.”The American Conservative -- Leo P. Ribuffo
Review
"Thus the books main benefit: One learns a lot without being either lectured at or pandered to."Mickey Edwards,
Boston Sunday Globe -- American Conservative
Review
'\"Patrick Allitt has succeeded admirably in his objective of producing a compact survey of American conservative thought that will be useful to students and general readers.
The Conservatives features excellent succinct summaries of key conservative thinkers, going back to the Founding era, ably conveying along the way the inconsistencies and internal divisions on the right.\"Steven F. Hayward,
The Weekly Standard -- Mickey Edwards - Boston Sunday Globe'
Review
"[This] wideranging, briskly written survey of the American Right from the founding era through the end of the 20th century is no conservative history of conservatism in the sense of an attempt to vindicate a conservative viewpoint against others, nor is it a liberal debunking exercise. Rather, it is a descriptive account, situated at the crossroads of intellectual and political history, that seeks to allow the various strains of conservative thought in America to emerge in the context of the political debate of their time."Tod Lindberg,
The National Review -- Steven F. Hayward - Weekly Standard
Review
'\"Tracing the origins of American conservatism is a challenge, especially when the very term itself was not generally acknowledged by its practitioners until the mid-20th century. In
The Conservatives, Patrick Allitt has taken on the task and drawn the conservative lineage from this nations founding to the present day.\"Wes Vernon,
The Washington Times -- Tod Lindberg - National Review'
Review
“Allitts generally unbiased and objective treatment of conservative thinkers and ideas through the decades is one of the best ever produced.”--Stephen F. Hayward,
Claremont Review of Books
-- Wes Vernon - Washington Times
Review
'\"[An] important and persuasive new book.\"--Ethan Porter,
Wilson Quarterly -- Tom Chandler - The Trout Underground'
Review
“Alan Abramowitz has produced a definitive work on the consequences of a divided electorate in elections, in policy making, and in the capacity for winners to govern.
The Disappearing Center is a major contribution to the study of contemporary American politics.”Thomas Edsall, author of
Building Red America and
Chain Reaction -- Anne Morton - International Journal of Maritime History
Review
“No one is better at analyzing the American voter than Alan Abramowitz. In this exceptionally revealing volume, Professor Abramowitz convincingly explains one of the most discussed phenomena of our time, political polarization.”Larry J. Sabato, author of
A More Perfect Constitution -- Thomas Byrne Edsall
Review
"Alan Abramowitz explains the most pressing political problem of the dayhow Americans have grown so politically divided that they barely speak the same language."Bill Bishop, author of
The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart -- Larry J. Sabato
Review
"If youre interested in getting beyond the standard handwringing and calls for bipartisanship, read this exceptionally clear and well-argued book.”Ruy Teixeira, co-author of
The Emerging Democratic Majority -- Bill Bishop
Review
"Among all the academics who write on American politics, Abramowitz is one of the most original, interesting, and convincing, and one of the smartest....[he] has new things to say about polarization. His focus here on the engaged versus the unengaged is a nice move. Also, he organizes recognized material about the subject in a way that beats the competition.”David Mayhew, Yale University
-- Ruy Teixeira
Review
“Thought-provoking.”--
Publishers Weekly -- David Mayhew
Review
and#8220;Thoroughly researched, compellingly arguedand#8230;Kinder and Dale-Riddle's exploration of racial politics sheds light on one of America's defining moments, and provides a timely reminder that there's more to be done race is not yet won.and#8221;and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Review
andldquo;This is quality scholarship that will be of interest to specialists in history, American studies, African American studies, journalism, English, media studies, sociology, and sports studies, among others.andrdquo;andmdash;Trey Strecker, editor of NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture and assistant professor in the Department of English at Ball State Universityand#160;
Review
andldquo;One of the most important books on racial politics to appear in the United States, Post-Racial or Most-Racial? presents cutting edge analysis of racial attitudes and their effects on modern American politics. Tesler superbly sets out the extent to which heightened partisan and ideological polarization characterizing American politics in the last two decades is a deeply racialized division and argues persuasively that mass politics became more heavily influenced by racial considerations during Obamaandrsquo;s presidency andlsquo;in spite of his administrationandrsquo;s best efforts to neutralize the political impact of race.andrsquo; Statistically rigorous, theoretically nuanced, and politically important, this is a major work of original scholarship.andrdquo;
Synopsis
In this wide-ranging new volume, one of our most important and perceptive scholars of the workings of the American government investigates political parties, politicians, elections, and policymaking to discover why public policy emerges in the shape that it does. David R. Mayhew looks at two centuries of policy makingfrom the Civil War and Reconstruction era through the Progressive era, the New Deal, the Great Society, the Reagan years, and the aspirations of the Clinton and Bush administrationsand offers his original insights on the ever-evolving American policy experience.
These fourteen essays were written over the past three decades and collectively showcase Mayhews skepticism of the usefulness of political parties as an analytic window into American politics. These writings, which include a new introductory essay, probe beneath the parties to the essentials of the U.S. constitutional system and the impulses and idiosyncrasies of history.
Synopsis
This lively book traces the development of American conservatism from Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Daniel Webster, through Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover, to William F. Buckley, Jr., Ronald Reagan, and William Kristol. Conservatism has assumed a variety of forms, historian Patrick Allitt argues, because it has been chiefly reactive, responding to perceived threats and challenges at different moments in the nations history.
While few Americans described themselves as conservatives before the 1930s, certain groups, beginning with the Federalists in the 1790s, can reasonably be thought of in that way. The book discusses changing ideas about what ought to be conserved, and why. Conservatives sometimes favored but at other times opposed a strong central government, sometimes criticized free-market capitalism but at other times supported it. Some denigrated democracy while others championed it. Core elements, however, have connected thinkers in a specifically American conservative tradition, in particular a skepticism about human equality and fears for the survival of civilization. Allitt brings the story of that tradition to the end of the twentieth century, examining how conservatives rose to dominance during the Cold War. Throughout the book he offers original insights into the connections between the development of conservatism and the larger history of the nation.
Synopsis
Renowned political scientist Alan I. Abramowitz presents a groundbreaking argument that the most important divide in American politics is not between left and right but rather between citizens who are politically engaged and those who are not. It is the engaged members of the public, he argues, who most closely reflect the ideals of democratic citizenshipbut this is also the group that is most polarized. Polarization at the highest levels of government, therefore, is not a sign of elites disconnection from the public but rather of their responsiveness to the more politically engaged parts of it. Though polarization is often assumed to be detrimental to democracy, Abramowitz concludes that by presenting voters with clear choices, polarization can serve to increase the publics interest and participation in politics and strengthen electoral accountability.
Synopsis
How did race affect the election that gave America its first African American president? This book offers some fascinating, and perhaps controversial, findings. Donald R. Kinder and Allison Dale-Riddle assert that racism was in fact an important factor in 2008, and that if not for racism, Barack Obama would have won in a landslide. On the way to this conclusion, they make several other important arguments.and#160;In an analysis of the nomination battle between Obama and Hillary Clinton, they show why racial identity matters more in electoral politics than gender identity. Comparing the 2008 election with that of 1960, they find that religion played much the same role in the earlier campaign that race played in and#8217;08. And they argue that racial resentmentand#8212;a modern form of racism that has superseded the old-fashioned biological varietyand#8212;is a potent political force.
Synopsis
The campaign for racial equality in sports has both reflected and affected the campaign for racial equality in the United States. Some of the most significant and publicized stories in this campaign in the twentieth century have happened in sports, including, of course, Jackie Robinson in baseball; Jesse Owens, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos in track; Arthur Ashe in tennis; and Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Muhammad Ali in boxing. Long after the full integration of college and professional athletics, race continues to play a major role in sports. Not long ago, sportswriters and sportscasters ignored racial issues. They now contribute to the publicandrsquo;s evolving racial attitudes on issues both on and off the field, ranging from integration to self-determination to masculinity.
From Jack Johnson to LeBron James examines the intersection of sports, race, and the media in the twentieth century and beyond. The essays are linked by a number of questions, including: How did the black and white media differ in content and context in their reporting of these stories? How did the media acknowledge race in their stories? Did the media recognize these stories as historically significant? Considering how media coverage has evolved over the years, the essays begin with the racially charged reporting of Jack Johnsonandrsquo;s reign as heavyweight champion and carry up to the present, covering the media narratives surrounding the Michael Vick dogfighting case in a supposedly post-racial era and the mediaandrsquo;s handling of LeBron Jamesandrsquo;s announcement to leave Cleveland for Miami.
Synopsis
Most Racial starts where Michael Tesler and David Searsandrsquo; last book--Obamaandrsquo;s Race, the story of the 2008 presidential electionandmdash;leaves off. Teslerandrsquo;s new book will provide the definitive account of the role of racial attitudes in mass politics during the Obama presidency. It tells the story of how, when, and why a wide swath of Americans became significantly more polarized by racial considerations than they had been before Barack Obamaandrsquo;s ascendancy and in spite of his administrationandrsquo;s strenuous efforts to neutralize the political impact of race. Rather than ushering in a new, post-racial era, the first black presidency in history has ironically resulted in the most-racial era of modern times Marshalling a vast amount of observational and experimental survey data, Tesler shows how racial attitudes have andldquo;spilled overandrdquo; to influence so many aspects of mass political decision making. These range from peopleandrsquo;s evaluations of presidential candidates and their partisan attachments, to seemingly non-racially related issues such as preferences about public policy and their subjective evaluations of objective economic conditions. Anti-black attitudes, for example, became a significantly stronger predictor of opposition to governmental health care after Obama became the face of the policy. Some people even had more positive feelings toward Obamaandrsquo;s dog, Bo, when told it was John Kerryandrsquo;s dog. Most broadly, Tesler argues that this racialization of our politics is behind both a growing partisan division between racially liberal and racially conservative white and an expanding political divide between white and non-white Americans that could shape our politics for years to come. It is, according to our reviewer, andldquo;certainly one of the most important books on racial politics to ever appear in the United States.andrdquo;
Synopsis
When Barack Obama won the presidency, many posited that we were entering into a post-racial period in American politics. Regrettably, the reality hasnandrsquo;t lived up to that expectation. Instead, Americansandrsquo; political beliefs have become significantly
more polarized by racial considerations were had been before Obamaandrsquo;s presidencyandmdash;in spite of his administrationandrsquo;s considerable efforts to neutralize the political impact of race.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Michael Tesler shows how, in the years that followed the 2008 electionandmdash;a presidential election more polarized by racial attitudes than any other in modern timesandmdash;racial considerations came increasingly to influence many aspects of political decision making. These range from peopleandrsquo;s evaluations of prominent politicians and the parties to issues seemingly unrelated to race like assessments of public policy or objective economic conditions. Some people even displayed more positive feelings toward Obamaandrsquo;s dog, Bo, when they were told he belonged to Teddy Kennedy. More broadly, Tesler argues that the rapidly intensifying influence of race in American politics is driving the polarizing partisan divide and the vitriolic atmosphere that has come to characterize American politics.
One of the most important books on American racial politics in recent years, Post-Racial or Most-Racial? is required reading for anyone wishing to understand what happened in the United States during Obamaandrsquo;s presidency and how it might shape the country long after he leaves office.
About the Author
Chris Lamb is a professor of journalism at Indiana Universityandndash;Purdue University at Indianapolis. He is the author of Conspiracy of Silence: Sportswriters and the Long Campaign to Desegregate Baseball (Nebraska, 2012) and Blackout: The Story of Jackie Robinsonandrsquo;s First Spring Training (Nebraska, 2004), among other books.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Obama as Most-Racial
Chapter 1. Racial Attitudes and American Politics in the Age of Obama
Chapter 2. The Spillover of Racialization Hypothesis
Chapter 3. The Obama Presidency, Racial Attitudes, and the 2012 Election
Chapter 4. Racial Attitudes and Evaluations of Public Figures in the Obama Era
Chapter 5. The Spillover of Racialization into Public Policy Preferences
Chapter 6. Racial Attitudes and Voting for Congress in the Obama Era
Chapter 7. The Growing Racialization of Partisan Attachments
Chapter 8. The Expanding Political Divide between White and Nonwhite Americans
Chapter 9. Conclusion: Racial Politics in the Obama and Post-Obama Eras
Notes
References
Index