Book Review: An Introduction to American Politics
| Author | Robert Holland |
| Published date | 01 December 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205501000413 |
| Date | 01 December 1955 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
296
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
than
they
answer.
Moreover
he
writes,
oddly,
not
only
from
what
appears to
be
an
American
point
of
view
but
even
from
a
Republican.
Thus
we
are
not.
surprised
when
the
author
tells
us
in
his
preface
that
an
American general told
him
that
this
was
"the
best
short
history
of
his
country
he
had
ever
read."
Somervell
sees
the
Democratic
Mexican
War as
one of
pure
aggression
but,
he
says,
the
Americans
started
the
Spanish
War
primarily
out
of
sentimental
sympathy
for
the
Cubans.
Theo-
dore
Roosevelt was
the
most
exciting
and colourful
of
all
the
Presidents.
With
respect
to
China, America
has
only
been
in-
terested
in
protecting
her
from
"exploitation
by
external
ag-
gressors." With
Allan
Nevins,
Professor
Somervell
can
say
that
"modern
American
historians-have
devoted
almost
too
much
attention
to
unravelling
these
scandals
[of
the
Gilded Age],"
but
he
finds
room
to
explain
in
detail
why Charles
Dickens was
beastly
to
the
Americans
in
Martin
Chuzzlewit.
It
all
makes
jolly reading
but
is
scarcely
to
be
taken
seriously
as
a
fresh
interpretation.
University
of
Manitoba
KENNETH
MCNAUGHT
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
AMERICAN
PoLITICS.
By
D.
W.
Brogan.
1954.
(London:
Hamish
Hamilton.
ix,
436pp. 21s.)
In
1933,
Mr.
Brogan
published
a
book
on
The
American
Political
System,
which
was
acclaimed
as
the
most
illuminating
description
of
American
Government
since
Bryce wrote
The
American
Commonwealth
(1888).
He
then
seemed
inclined
to
the
opinion
that
the
venerable
Constitution
showed
signs
of
obsolescence
because
the
'checks
and
balances'
precluded
develop-
ment
of
a
parliamentary
system.
Ten
years
later,
in a
Preface to
the
eighth
impression
of
the
book,
he
recanted,
noting
that
"there
is an
elasticity
in
the
American
system
that
is
hard
to
fit
into
the
rigid
categories
of
textbooks
and
decisions."
He contended
that
changes
in
the
system
had
been few
"because
for
all
its
defects,
for
all
its
in-
elegancies,
it
represents a
complete
success,
the
extension
and
maintenance
of
free
institutions
over a
continental
area
and
the
creation
at
the
same
time
of
a
national
unity
that
has
stood
the
severest
tests."
None
of
the
twenty-two
Amendments,
ap-
parently,
could
be
construed
otherwise
than
as
interpreting
the
spirit
of
the
Constitution.
In
his present
work,
he
stresses
the
fact
that
"the
American
people
after
more
than
a
century
and a
half
of
experience, is
as
much
as
ever
convinced
that,
within
the
framework
of
the
Constitution
and
in
no
other
way,
lies
political
salvation
for
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