About the Book
Relying on an astounding collection of more than three decades of firsthand research, Frank M. Bryan examines one of the purest forms of American democracy, the New England town meeting. At these meetings, usually held once a year, all eligible citizens of the town may become legislators; they meet in face-to-face assemblies, debate the issues on the agenda, and vote on them. And although these meetings are natural laboratories for democracy, very few scholars have systematically investigated them.
A nationally recognized expert on this topic, Bryan has now done just that. Studying 1,500 town meetings in his home state of Vermont, he and his students recorded a staggering amount of data about them—238,603 acts of participation by 63,140 citizens in 210 different towns. Drawing on this evidence as well as on evocative "witness" accounts—from casual observers to no lesser a light than Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn—Bryan paints a vivid picture of how real democracy works. Among the many fascinating questions he explores: why attendance varies sharply with town size, how citizens resolve conflicts in open forums, and how men and women behave differently in town meetings. In the end, Bryan interprets this brand of local government to find evidence for its considerable staying power as the most authentic and meaningful form of direct democracy.
Giving us a rare glimpse into how democracy works in the real world, Bryan presents here an unorthodox and definitive book on this most cherished of American institutions.
About the Author :
Frank M. Bryan is a professor of political science at the University of Vermont. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of eleven books, including Politics in the Rural States and The Vermont Papers: Recreating Democracy on a Human Scale as well as several books of Yankee humor such as the bestseller Real Vermonters Don't Milk Goats.
Review :
""This volume is the result of a labour that has stretched through thirty years of an academic career, yet it is as fresh, relevant, engaging and exciting as it is definitive. . . . The book is solidly scholarly, but is enlivened with astute, enlightening, touching, funny and occasionally moving observations. The meetings come to life, without the discipline of the analysis ever being lost."--Philip John Davies "Journal of American Studies"
"[The author] set out with his students' help to discover the essence of this democracy and to tell others about it. The result is the best book I have ever read on local government. It is, in unequal parts: careful consideration of democratic theory; exploration of a great range of germane empirical work; very rigorous, original quantitative research; vignette; personal diary; and handbook on engaging students in real social science. The writing . . . is direct and consistently engaging. The social science . . . is creative and imaginative. And I have rarely seen the results of systematic quantitative research so clearly and accessibly explained."--Gerald Benjamin "Political Science Quarterly"
"Let a good scholar labor a lifetime and then produce the unique and valuable book he was born to write. Professor Bryan has done this with considerable vigor and charm. His book is altogether a splendid piece of research, of imaginative data gathering, and of shrewd analysis."--Ronald Jager "Historical New Hampshire"
"Bryan has performed yeoman's work in this landmark comparative study of town meetings. . . . The prospective audience for this significant book will likely be diverse, including political scientists (and their students . . . ), as well as appointed and elected government officials. It also would naturally appeal to community and neighborhood advocates and general readers who are rightly concerned about the future of American democracy."--G. Thomas Taylor "Perspectives on Politics"
"Bryan's book is very different in several respects, which makes it all the more refreshing. It is to the author's credit that he straddles the boundaries of qualitative and quantitative research with such ease. . . . Bryan has clearly produced the definitive text on New England town hall democracy. In time, the book may very well become a classic."--Anthony O'Halloran "Political Studies Review"
"I wish I had written this book. It is witty (about Vermont village life) and wise (about everything from Athenian democracy to the ecological fallacy). It deals with a phenomenon that deserves attention from every American concerned about the future of our polity. Town meetings are hardly the primary solution to what ails our democracy, but understanding how they work could help us design reforms on a larger canvas. Too few books are both fun and important, but this one is."Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University--Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University
"'At a New England town meeting, ' Bryan proclaims, '[Adolf Hitler] would have at once been recognized as a flaming jackass and subtly ostracized into impotence.' The serious point buried in his exuberant hyperbole is the lesson at the heart of this immensely readable and valuable book."
-- "Yankee Magazine"
"[Bryan] writes tellingly and thoroughly about Vermont's 210 annual town meetings over three decades . . . Bryan employs many of the sophisticated methodologies of political science to demonstrate that the New England town meeting is not merely a traditional method by which early Americans governed themselves. It still works well. . . . Obviously, New England can't be transferred to Iraq and Afghanistan, but its lessons are still relevant."
--Robert I. Rothberg "Christian Science Monitor"
"And now the irrepressible Bryan has made a major contribution to his field (and his country, which is Vermont) with Real Democracy, his magnum opus, the most searching and sympathetic book ever written about the town meeting democracy of New England. The book is a veritable four-leaf clover of academia: a witty work of political science written from a defiantly rural populist point of view. If the Green Mountains had a face, it would be Frank Bryan. With Real Democracy, he has given his state, and us outlanders as well, the most detailed and affectionate portrait of a town meeting, which is, as Bryan says, 'where you learn to be a good citizen'."
--Bill Kauffman "The American Conservative" (9/13/2004 12:00:00 AM)
"Frank Bryan . . . is arguably (and you can bet he'd enjoy arguing about it) the nation's leading scholar on town meeting democracy. What can't be argued is that he is it's most passionate and eloquent promoter."
-- "New England Monthly"
"Frank Bryan has written a classic of American political science and a book that will entrance scholars of democracy world-wide. The culmination of a life's work, Real Democracy relentlessly interrogates the New England town meeting. . . . Real Democracy is a good book because of 30 years of careful research on a neglected topic; it is a great book because it is the fulfillment of a lifetime's passion: a 'lover's quarrel' with democracy as representation."--Laurence Piper "Theoria"
"Simultaneously nostalgic and up-to-the-minute. Bryan's book arrives as interest in local civic capital and 'deliberate democracy'--as contrasted with the old-fashioned adversarial style--is surging."
--Christopher Shea "Boston Globe"
"This book is informative and entertaining, a rare combination for a scholarly study."
--Thomas A. Karel "Library Journal"
"Real Democracy is a magnificent analysis of the New England town meeting. It should be read again and again over the next hundred (indeed, the next thousand) years. Whether existing town meetings flourish and provide a model for the rest of the world or whether they lose their power and begin to wither, this book will provide the scholarly world's only basis for their systematic comparison in the future."Jane Mansbridge, Harvard University--Jane Mansbridge, Harvard University
"Real Democracy is an outstanding book that should be 'must reading' for any citizen concerned about the well-being of democracy in America and for all analysts interested in democratic practice. Bryan's book is a towering achievement, a product of a dedicated political scientist with a clear vision of the meaning of democracy and how best to assess its health and actions."Richard F. Winters, Dartmouth College--Richard F. Winters, Dartmouth College
"[Real Democracy] is splendid in every respect. . . . I know of no other book quite like it--it is a scholarly 'page-flipper.' Each page brims with new and unexpected insights. [Bryan] generates valuable characterizations of town meetings, and his conclusions about the relationship between democracy in practice in Vermont towns and our nation's democracy should be considered by all."--Richard F. Winters "Burlington Free Press (VT)"
"[Bryan's] tour de force is Real Democracy, already being hailed as the definitive book on town meetings."Vermont Life-- "Vermont Life"
