Governing America: The Revival of Political History

New perspectives on American political history from one of its leading writers In recent years, the study of American political history has experienced a remarkable renaissance. After decades during which the subject fell out of fashion and disappeared from public view, it has returned to prominence as the study of American history has shifted its focus back to politics broadly defined. In this book, one of the leaders of the resurgence in American political history, Julian Zelizer, assesses its revival and demonstrates how this work not only illuminates the past but also helps us better understand American politics today.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments ix Governing America: An Introduction 1 Part I: Thinking about the Field 9 One: Beyond the Presidential Synthesis: Reordering Political Time 11 Two: Clio's Lost Tribe: Public Policy History Since 1978 41 Three: History and Political Science: Together Again? 60 Four: Rethinking the History of American Conservatism 68 Five: What Political Science Can Learn from the New Political History 90 Part II: Paying for Government: Taxes, Money, and Fiscal Restraint 105 Six: The Uneasy Relationship: Democracy, Taxation, and State-Building Since the New Deal 107 Seven: The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933-1938 124 Eight: "Where Is the Money Coming From?" The Reconstruction of Social Security Finance 153 Nine: Paying for Medicare: Benefits, Budgets, and Wilbur Mills's Policy Legacy 168 Part III: The Rules of the Game: The Politics of Process 193 Ten: Seeds of Cynicism: The Struggle Over Campaign Finance, 1956-1974 195 Eleven: Bridging State and Society: The Origins of 1970s Congressional Reform 221 Twelve: Without Restraint: Scandal and Politics in America 232 Thirteen: Seizing Power: Conservatives and Congress Since the 1970s 259 Fourteen: How Conservatives Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Presidential Power 290 Part IV: Politics and Policy: The Case of National Security 307 Fifteen: Congress and the Politics of Troop Withdrawal, 1966-1973 309 Sixteen: Detente and Domestic Politics 321 Seventeen: Conservatives, Carter, and the Politics of National Security 335 Notes 351 Index 399

About the Author :
Julian E. Zelizer is professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. His most recent books include Jimmy Carter, Arsenal of Democracy, and The Presidency of George W. Bush (Princeton). He writes a weekly column for CNN.com and Politico and has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications.

Review :
"This exhilarating volume deserves a broad readership. It is first and foremost invaluable to graduate students and historians exploring new approaches to American political history. Secondly, it reveals to political scientists the worth of political history, beyond furnishing the raw data for political analysis. Thirdly, it suggests ways in which public historians and policymakers might collaborate in policymaking. Finally, the essays are accessible enough to appeal to the general reader interested in the historical development of modern American politics. Above all, Zelizer's work exemplifies and validates historians' rediscovery of the importance of American politics, albeit more broadly defined than before, as well as vindicates political scientists' recent and continued interest in American history."--Eleanor Thompson, LSE Politics and Policy blog "Governing America: The Revival of Political History is an important instrument to any person hoping to gain a better understanding of the revaluation of political history and the negotiation of the current political landscape of the United States. Both the lay reader and a student of political history would benefit by adding Zelizer's latest to his or her collection."--Chris Dawe, Journal of American Studies of Turkey "Zelizer's essays give the reader a good grasp of the ways that politics has unfolded over the past half century. And the range of topics gives a good sense of where the field lies at this point. The scholarship is impeccable, the sources appropriate, and the tone scholarly without being pedantic. As this collection of Zelizer's finest work indicates, the discipline of history still has room for political history."--John H. Barnhill, Canadian Journal of History