The riveting new book on the momentous year, campaign, and election that shaped American history.

It’s January 2, 1960: the day that Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy declared his candidacy; and with this opening scene, Chris Wallace offers readers a front-row seat to history. From the challenge of primary battles in a nation that had never elected a Catholic president, to the intense machinations of the national conventions—where JFK chose Lyndon Johnson as his running mate over the impassioned objections of his brother Bobby—this is a nonfiction political thriller filled with intrigue, cinematic action, and fresh reporting. Like with many popular histories, readers may be familiar with the story, but few will know the behind-the-scenes details, told here with gripping effect.

Featuring some of history’s most remarkable characters, page-turning action, and vivid details, Countdown 1960 follows a group of extraordinary politicians, civil rights leaders, Hollywood stars, labor bosses, and mobsters during a pivotal year in American history. The election of 1960 ushered in the modern era of presidential politics, with televised debates, private planes, and slick advertising. In fact, television played a massive role. More than 70 million Americans watched one or all four debates. The public turned to television to watch campaign rallies. And on the night of the election, the contest between Kennedy and Nixon was so close that Americans were glued to their televisions long after dawn to see who won.

The election of 1960 holds stunning parallels to our current political climate. There were—potentially valid—claims of voter fraud and a stolen election. There was also a presidential candidate faced with the decision of whether to contest the result or honor the peaceful transfer of power.

South Africa’s general election of 2024 saw the African National Congress losing its majority at the national level for the first time since the arrival of democracy in 1994. To maintain its rule, President Cyril Ramaphosa led his party into a Government of National Unity (GNU) centered around a hitherto unlikely coalition with the opposition Democratic Alliance. Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition presents the first comprehensive analysis of this historic process.

It outlines the extensive social and economic crisis that preceded the election; provides detailed analyses of the election campaigns of the political parties; highlights the dramatic rise Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe Party; places the GNU against the recent experiences of coalition formation at provincial and local level; offers comprehensive summaries of voter participation and both the national and provincial results; and discusses prospects for the GNU’s survival and its possible long-term consequences.

Written in a highly accessible style, Election 2024, South Africa is an indispensable resource for all those wanting to understand South Africa’s contemporary politics.

A revelatory, inside look the Biden, Harris, and Trump camps during the 2024 battle for the White House, arguably the most consequential contest in American history.

The ride was so wild that it forced a sitting president to drop his re-election bid, a once and future president to survive felony convictions and a would-be assassin’s bullet, and a vice president, unexpectedly thrust into the arena, to mount an unprecedented 107-day campaign to lead the free world.

Fight is the backstage story of bloodsport politics in its rawest form—the clawing, backstabbing, and rabble-rousing that drove Donald Trump into the White House and Democrats into the wilderness. At every turn, the combatants went for the jugular, whether they were facing down rivals in the other party or their own.

Bestselling authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes give readers their first graphic view of the characters, their motivations, and their innermost thoughts as they battled to claim the ultimate prize and define a political era. Based on real-time interviews with more than 150 insiders—from the Trump, Harris, and Biden inner circles, as well as party leaders and operatives—Fight delivers the vivid and stunning tale of an election unlike any other.

In the end, Trump overcame voters’ concerns about his personal flaws by tapping into a deep vein of dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. At the same time, Democrats struggled to connect with an electorate that felt gaslit by Biden’s insistence that he had delivered economic prosperity—and his pledge to be a “bridge” president. He tore his party asunder, leaving destroyed personal relationships in his wake, as he clung to power. And when he gave it up, he kneecapped Harris by demanding unprecedented loyalty from her.

As Allen and Parnes have done in the #1 New York Times bestseller Shattered and Lucky, they provide readers with a skeleton key to the rooms where it all happened, revealing a story more shocking than previously reported.

The Strain of Representation assesses and explains the extent to which political parties across Europe as a whole have succeeded in representing diverse voters. The authors note two important features of the European political landscape that complicate the task of assessing party representation and that require its reassessment: First, the emergence of new democracies in post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe point to the possibility that representation is not only differentially achieved in West and East but may also be attained by different mechanisms. Second, parties in both West and East must now seek to represent voters that are increasingly diverse, specifically between partisan and independent supporters. The book refers to the challenges of representation of diverse voters as 'the strain of representation'. The evidential basis for the empirical analysis are expert surveys conducted in 24 European countries on party positions that have been merged with other available data on voters, party characteristics, and country conditions. The results point to both the representational capacities of parties in West and East and to the strain that parties face in representing diverse voters.

The 2008 U.S. presidential campaign has provided a lifetime's worth of surprises. Once again, however, the nomination process highlighted the importance of organization, political prowess, timing, and money. And once again, it raised many hackles. The Democratic contest in particular generated many complaints --for example, it started too early, it was too long, and Super Tuesday was overloaded. This timely book synthesizes new analysis by premier political scientists into a cohesive look at the presidential nomination process --the ways in which it is broken and how it might be fixed.

The contributors to "Reforming the Presidential Nomination Process" address different facets of the selection process, starting with a brief history of how we got to this point. They analyze the importance --and perceived unfairness --of the earliest primaries and discuss what led to record turnouts in 2008. What roles do media coverage and public endorsements play? William Mayer explains the "superdelegate" phenomenon and the controversy surrounding it; James Gibson and Melanie Springer evaluate public perceptions of the current process as well as possible reforms. Larry Sabato (A More Perfect Constitution) calls for a new nomination system, installed via constitutional amendment, while Tom Mann of Brookings opines on calls for reform that arose in 2008 and Daniel Lowenstein examines the process by which reforms may be adopted --or blocked.

Help teach students about the voting process with this nonfiction book. Made for young readers, the book includes a fiction story related to the topic, a bonus project, discussion questions, and other helpful features. This 24-page full-color book explains how the voting process works and encourages students to study candidates. It also covers essential concepts such as democracy and civic duty and includes an extension activity for Grade 1. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to explore elections, leadership, and being an informed voter.

Learn how to be informed voters with this nonfiction book. Ideal for young readers, this book includes bright images, a fiction piece related to the topic, a project, simple text with sight words, and more helpful features. This 20-page full-color book describes how people can make wise decisions about whom to vote for. It also covers civics themes such as leadership and civic duty, and includes an extension activity for kindergarten. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to learn about the voting process, democracy, and being informed.

Learn about elections and why voting is important with this nonfiction book. Perfect for young readers, the book also includes a related fiction story, project, glossary, useful text features, and engaging sidebars. This 28-page full-color book examines a variety of voting issues and how the election process works. It also covers important topics like democracy and civic duty, and includes an extension activity for grade 2. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool, to explore election issues, candidates, and being an informed citizen.

Learn about the process of electing government leaders! This nonfiction book explains how elections work and ways for individuals to stay involved in government. The book also includes a related fiction piece, a glossary, an extension activity, and other helpful features. Perfect for young readers, this book will show students how to be informed citizens when it comes to elections and campaigns. This 32-page full-color book describes the presidential election process with examples from United States history. It also explores essential topics such as leadership and civic duty and includes an extension activity for grade 3. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to explore political parties, government leaders, and the structure of America s representative democracy.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Tackling the complex issues surrounding what shapes a person's vote, this cutting-edge Advanced Introduction analyses the main findings in current research on electoral behavior to provide a comprehensive understanding of electoral choice. Key Features: Treats the voting decision as the cumulation of a lifetime of learning Studies global voting examples, from Europe and the Anglo-American democracies to newly democratic states Places the act of voting in context to cover all dimensions of the voting decision, examining the causes of an individual's vote and how that interacts with the design of the country's institutions Considers the ideological effects of short-term factors like issues and leaders which dominate election campaigns, and long-term factors like social backgrounds, looking at how class and economic interests can influence voters Analysing the incentives behind party loyalties and political participation, this Advanced Introduction will be an invaluable guide for students and scholars interested in political and electoral behavior and comparative politics.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This Research Agenda documents and establishes the thinking of leading scholars in the field of political marketing and related sub-fields, also encompassing additional social science disciplines that intersect at the crossroads of political marketing. Chapters address the complexity of how politicians and political parties leverage trust, credibility, and expertise across their policy positions, and how citizens formulate their attitudes and opinions. Contributors focus on the new challenges and opportunities for political parties and politicians around the globe when communicating about complex issues, such as science and technology. This Research Agenda will be an essential resource for political marketing researchers and practitioners looking to explore how marketing tactics may be used to shape, guide, and manage public opinion and policy discourse.

Examining the nature of public opinion in democratic societies, this Handbook succinctly illustrates the importance of public opinion as an instrument of popular control and democratic accountability. Expert contributors in the field provide a thorough review of a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of this timely topic. The concise but comprehensive chapters investigate the theoretical value of biological, contextual, psychological, sociological and economic perspectives when exploring public opinion. The Handbook also demonstrates useful insights that can be generated from quantitative or qualitative research designs from both an observational and experimental perspective. Furthermore, its informative assessment of the origins and structure of how public opinion is formed allows for a greater understanding of how policies are developed as a result. Providing a state-of-the-art review, this Handbook will be an excellent study resource for scholars of public opinion in political science, sociology and psychology. Political practitioners, particularly government officials, political operatives and pollsters will also find this informative and illuminating.

Reporting data and predicting trends through the 2008 campaign, this classroom-tested volume offers again James E. Campbell's ""theory of the predictable campaign,"" incorporating the fundamental conditions that systematically affect the presidential vote: political competition, presidential incumbency, and election-year economic conditions. Campbell's cogent thinking and clear style present students with a readable survey of presidential elections and political scientists' ways of studying them. ""The American Campaign"" also shows how and why journalists have mistakenly assigned a pattern of unpredictability and critical significance to the vagaries of individual campaigns. This excellent election-year text provides: a summary and assessment of each of the serious predictive models of presidential election outcomes; a historical summary of many of America's important presidential elections; and a significant new contribution to the understanding of presidential campaigns and how they matter.

This major new work from the well-known team of Heath, Jowell and Curtice explores the emergence of New Labour from the ruins of old Labour's four successive defeats at the hands of the Conservatives. Based on the authoritative British Election Surveys the book explores some of the key questions about contemporary British elections and the social and political factors that decide their outcomes.

Despite the recent wealth of literature on national populism, research has often overlooked one crucial aspect: the border. This innovative book bridges these key concepts, providing a new theoretical conceptualisation of the interplay between populism, nationalism and territorial borders. In this book, borders are not considered as mere institutional boundaries between nation states; on the contrary, the authors adopt a multi-dimensional view of borders as narratives, issues and territorial spaces of mobilisation. Reconsidering the contemporary politicisation of borders in Western Europe, the authors investigate how national populism deals with territorial borders and the various meanings they embody. Empirical case studies focusing on the Swiss borderlands explore parties' programmes and discourses, representatives' attitudes, as well as public opinion and voting behaviour, offering key insights into how political actors and citizens react to trends such as growing transnational flows, globalisation and European integration. This timely book, based on original party sources and surveys, will be an essential resource for students and scholars of political science, political sociology, border studies, European integration, Euroscepticism and Swiss politics. Its context-oriented analysis will also prove beneficial to practitioners and representatives involved in cross-border cooperation.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Tackling the complex issues surrounding what shapes a person's vote, this cutting-edge Advanced Introduction analyses the main findings in current research on electoral behavior to provide a comprehensive understanding of electoral choice. Key Features: Treats the voting decision as the cumulation of a lifetime of learning Studies global voting examples, from Europe and the Anglo-American democracies to newly democratic states Places the act of voting in context to cover all dimensions of the voting decision, examining the causes of an individual's vote and how that interacts with the design of the country's institutions Considers the ideological effects of short-term factors like issues and leaders which dominate election campaigns, and long-term factors like social backgrounds, looking at how class and economic interests can influence voters Analysing the incentives behind party loyalties and political participation, this Advanced Introduction will be an invaluable guide for students and scholars interested in political and electoral behavior and comparative politics.

Why do people living in different areas vote in different ways? Why does this change over time? How do people talk about politics with friends and neighbours, and with what effect? Does the geography of well-being influence the geography of party support? Do parties try to talk to all voters
at election time, or are they interested only in the views of a small number of voters living in a small number of seats? Is electoral participation in decline, and how does the geography of the vote affect this? How can a party win a majority of seats in Parliament without a majority of votes in
the country? Putting Voters in their Place explores these questions by placing the analysis of electoral behaviour into its geographical context. Using information from the latest elections, including the 2005 General Election, the book shows how both voters and parties are affected by, and seek to
influence, both national and local forces. Trends are set in the context of the latest research and scholarship on electoral behaviour. The book also reports on new research findings.

"Engaging and inspiring . . . Reading this book should make you want to vote." Barack Obama In a world of sound bites, deliberate misinformation, and a political scene colored by the blue versus red partisan divide, how does the average educated American find a reliable source that's free of political spin? What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don't breaks it all down, issue by issue, explaining who stands for what, and why-whether it's the economy, income inequality, Obamacare, foreign policy, education, immigration, or climate change. If you're a Democrat, a Republican, or somewhere in between, it's the perfect book to brush up on a single topic or read through to get a deeper understanding of the often mucky world of American politics. This is an essential volume for understanding the background to the 2016 presidential election. But it is also a book that transcends the season. It's truly for anyone who wants to know more about the perennial issues that will continue to affect our everyday lives. The third edition includes an introduction by Naomi Wolf discussing the themes and issues that have come to the fore during the present presidential cycle.

Recent U.S. elections have defied nationwide majority preference at the White House, Senate, and House levels. This work of interdisciplinary scholarship explains how ''winner-take-all'' and single-member district elections make this happen, and what can be done to repair the system. Proposed reforms include the National Popular Vote interstate compact (presidential elections); eliminating the Senate filibuster; and proportional representation using Ranked Choice Voting for House, state, and local elections. This timely analysis of election law and politics outlining key structural election reforms combines distinct analysis of presidential, Senate, and U.S. House elections reforms, while also addressing reforms at the state and local government level. The author argues for fundamental structural changes to U.S. elections like Proportional Representation and Ranked Choice Voting, without requiring any constitutional amendments. Analysis of recent political developments such as progress on the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, the adoption of Ranked Choice Voting state-wide in Maine, and the 2018 Supreme Court gerrymandering cases add real-world relevance and applicability. This sharp examination of a flawed system is vital reading for students and scholars involved in election law and political science, and is approachable enough for lay readers interested in politics and reform as well. 'Rethinking US Election Law is a timely, well-written argument in favour of electoral reform in the United States. It advances achievable solutions that could go a long way towards solving the country's current democratic breakdown, and is an excellent read for anyone interested in ''unskewing the system''.' - Erica Frazier, LSE Review 'Steven Mulroy's Rethinking US Election Law is a concise and refreshing book on US election law. The book takes the reader on a tour through the various and profound shortcomings of the country's reliance on single-member districts (SMDs) and demonstrates that, so long as these SMDs remain the principal building block of US elections, little can be done to resolve the many ailments that afflict the process. It is a powerful, thoughtfully-reasoned and clearly-written argument in favor of electoral reform.. . . Mulroy offers a compelling argument for electoral reform that should be required reading for the next redistricting cycle or for any undergraduate class on voting rights and redistricting. Even the most skeptical critic would have difficulty refuting his analysis.' - American Political Science Association 'Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Rethinking US Election Law is a seminal work of outstanding scholarship that is as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking. . . (it) is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community, academic, governmental Contemporary Political Science collections and supplemental studies reading lists for students, academia, political activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.' - John Taylor, Midwest Book Review