Book Review: United States: Modern Political Analysis, the American Party System and the American People, Politics and Policies in State and Local Governments, Perspectives in Constitutional Law
| Author | Harold Kaplan |
| Date | 01 June 1964 |
| Published date | 01 June 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900228 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
253
effect
a quiet
revolution
in
the
administration
of
the
country's
affairs.
We
owe
them
both
to Bennett.
Mr.
Watkins
deals generously
with the
famous
broadcasts
in
early
1935
which
came
to
be
known
as
"Bennett's
New Deal."
The
judgement
at
that
time
was
that
they
had
been cynically
conceived
as
the
last
desperate
throw
of
a desperate
man.
Mr.
Watkins
is
more
generous
but
does
not
document
his case,
a
task
which
must
be
left
to
some
future
historian.
The
plain
fact
is,
however,
that
Bennet, from whatever
motive, was
ahead
of
his
party
and
his
time.
He did
set
up
signposts
which
carried
Canada
along
a
new
road
and
for
this
achievement
we
should
be
grateful.
Montreal
GEORGE
V.
FERGUSON
United
States
MODERN
POLITICAL
ANALYSIS.
By
Robert
A.
Dahl.
1963.
(Englewood
Cliffs,
N.J.:
Prentice-Hall.
ix,
ll8pp.
$3.95)
THE
AMERICAN
PARTY
SYSTEM
AND
THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE.
By
Fred
I.
Greenstein,
1963.
(Englewood
Cliffs,
N.J.:
Prentice-Hall.
xi,
115pp.
$3.95)
POLrITCS
AND
POuCIS
IN
STATE
AND
LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS.
By
Herbert
Kaufman.
1963.
(Englewood
Cliffs,
N.J.:
Prentice-Hall.
viii,
120pp.
$3.95)
PERSPECTIVES
IN
CoNsTrTUTIONAL
LAW.
By
Charles
L.
Black,
Jr.
1963.
(Englewood
Cliffs,
N.J.:
Prentice-Hall.
x,
ll8pp.
$3.95)
These
four
books
are
the
first
of
eleven volumes
comprising
the
Foundation
of
Modern
Political
Science
Series.
This series
is
designed
to
provide
students
with
an
introduction
to
various
aspects
of
American
government
and
to
do
so
at
a
higher
level
of
scholarship
than
is
common
in
many
introductory texts.
The
series
is
also
designed to
introduce
students
to some
of
the
more
recent
trends
in American
political
science,
trends
that
are
often
collectively
referred
to
as
"behaviourism."
By
permitting instructors
to
dispense
with
the
single
text
and
to
assign
instead
several
short
paperbacks,
the
series
also
will
add
a
great
deal
of
flexibility
to
the
teaching
of
political
science
courses.
Greenstein's
The
American
Party
System
and the
American
People
very
capably
summarizes
the
vast
literature
on
American
public opinion,
voting
behaviour,
state
and
local
parties,
and
parties
at
the
federal
level.
The
author's
footnotes
and
bibliography
are
excellent
guides
to
the
current
literature
in
this
field,
and
his
job
of condensing
this
litera-
ture
into
just
over
one
hundred
pages
is
impressive.
It
is
not
clear,
however,
why
he
devotes
a full
chapter
to
the
old-style
city
machine,
an
institution
which
is
largely
of
historical
interest.
By
comparison,
he
devotes
little
attention
to
the
dominant
feature
of
most
city
politics--
non-partisan
elections.
Furthermore,
in
an
introductory
work,
an
ac-
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