Defying the Odds: The 2016 Elections and American Politics, Post 2018 Election Update

Now updated to include the 2018 midterms and previewing the coming 2020 election cycle, Defying the Odds provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the national election, including the presidential nomination process and election and congressional elections. With its keen insights into the issues and events that drove the 2016 election, Defying the Odds will be an invaluable resource for students and all political observers seeking to understand an election that was decades in the making and will continue to resonate throughout American politics for many years to come.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Twenty-Four Years Later: 1992 and 2016 Chapter 2: From Little Rock to Chappaqua: The Democratic Nomination Contest Chapter 3: Trumped: The Republican Nomination Contest Chapter 4: Race to the Bottom: The General Election Chapter 5: Red Down the Ballot: Congressional and State Elections Chapter 6: Aftermath and Future Epilogue: The 2018 Election Index About the Authors

About the Author :
James W. Ceaser is professor of politics at the University of Virginia. Andrew E. Busch is professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. John J. Pitney Jr. is professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.

Review :
Caesar, Busch, and Pitney continue the same effective style as their earlier After Hope and Change. The work concludes with what for some may be frightening words: ‘[a]nd if anything in politics is certain, it is that victory breeds imitation.’ Whatever one’s preferred electoral outcome might have been, certainly few if any of us want to take that ride again. Defying the Odds is a clear, concise, yet comprehensive retelling of the key events of the 2016 campaign. Once again, with limited use of political science jargon, Caesar and his coauthors make clear the lessons scholars and casual observers alike can draw from the events of the 2016 presidential election. As was the case with their earlier volume, the authors have provided an excellent accompaniment to texts for courses in campaigns and elections, the presidency, or recent political history. Defying the Odds will perhaps be more valuable as a contribution in these fields as time passes, the events are less raw, and we can place them in the context of the passage of time. Summing Up: Highly recommended. The series has been popular with political scientists teaching courses on American elections, and with good reason. Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney are astute election analysts, knowledgeable about American history, institutions, and principles. They write clear prose, with due attention to both trees and forest.... Meanwhile, our wild ride continues, and Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney give one of the best accounts of the track just behind us. Defying the Oddsis possibly the first meaningful “deep dive” into Donald Trump’s seemingly inexplicable triumph. It is sophisticated yet accessible and informative while remaining richly entertaining. “No presidential election in the last 25 years has produced such a surprising result as Donald Trump's victory in 2016. In Defying the Odds, James Ceaser, Andrew Busch, and John Pitney, explain how this seemingly impossible thing happened, and what it means for America and the future.” “Defying the Odds features terrific analysis of one of the most improbable presidential elections in our nation's history. Casting a wide investigative net, the authors ably depict the many influences behind the 2016 triumph of billionaire outsider Donald Trump and the Republicans. It’s a book teeming with original insights about a huge turning point in US politics.” “Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney Jr. have done it again. Like their earlier campaign chronicles, Defying the Odds is a lively, scholarly analysis that makes sense out of the latest elections. The 2016 elections may have confounded the pundits and pollsters, but these scholars explain what happened and why with clarity and admirable detachment.” “The intellectual charm of the politics of presidential selection in 2016 lay in a tangled disconfirmation of conventional wisdoms, offered incessantly. Someone has to untangle this succession of anomalies, and who better than Ceaser, Busch, and Pitney? For them, the concept of ‘outsiderism’ is key, and they follow it from start to finish. It is a tour not to be missed. Get on the bus.” “Defying the Odds arrives in the nick of time, offering a cogent, informed, and readable account of 2016 presidential campaign. Building on their previous campaign books, the authors provide invaluable context for the Trump era.”