READINGS

James Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System (Revised edition; Brookings). Sundquist presents a theoretical discussion of the concept of party realignment and then demonstrates how the crises produced by the emergence of salient new issues at critical points in American history led to the formation and disintegration of successive party systems. Sundquist questions whether the issues that drove the "Reagan Revolution" will result in the formation of yet one more party system in which the Republicans become the majority party.

Allen J. Matusow, The Unraveling ofAmerica: A History of Liberalism in the1960s (Harper and Row). This is an excellent and detailed account of how the politics of the '60s emerged and divided the Democratic Party.

Nelson W. Polsby, The Consequencesof Party Reform (Oxford University Press). This is the best analysis and evaluation of the consequences of the post-1968 democratization of the presidential nomination process. Polsby contends that the shift in power from party elites to rank and file voters was a mistake. He argues that because elites have greater information and experience, they are better able to nominate candidates who can win the general election and govern effectively.

Theodore White, The Making of thePresident 1960 (Atheneum). White's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the 1960 nomination and general election campaigns uses a highly entertaining narrative style that deemphasizes the discussion of campaign issues and, instead, concentrates on the more exciting topics of candidate strategy and the horse race. For better or for worse, because of its great success, this book has had a major influence on the way the media cover electoral politics.

Peter Goldman and Tony Fuller, TheQuest for the Presidency 1984 (A Newsweek Book). Distilled from the weekly reports of Newsweek correspondents, this is the best narrative account of the 1984 Democratic nomination and general election campaigns. In a controversial move, Newsweek promised sources that it would not publish some material until after the election.

Timothy Crouse, The Boys on the Bus (Ballantine). This is a modern classic. Using the 1972 presidential election as a case study, Crouse demonstrates how bargaining among three sets of actors—news executives and reporters, reporters and other reporters, and reporters and candidates—influences the content of mass media coverage of electoral politics.

Martin Schram, The Great AmericanVideo Game: Presidential Politics in theTelevision Age (Morrow). Schram, who covered the 1984 presidential campaign for the Washington Post, contends that the visual component of campaign coverage has a far greater impact on viewers than the accompanying storyline, and that the need for good visual imagery is the dominant concern of both news executives and reporters. Schram argues that in the 1984 campaign, the Reagan team understood this perfectly and influenced the content of television news coverage by skillfully staging colorful and visually compelling media events of doubtful substantive value.

Under Ernest Martin Hopkins '01,alumni were more than a source of College wealth—they became a "movement."