Oxford University Press The Decline of Popular Politics: The American North, 1865-1928

In the 1984 presidential election, only half of the eligible electorate exercised its right to vote. Why does politics no longer excite many―of not most Americans? Michael McGerr attrributes the decline in voting in the American North to the transformation of political style after the Civil War. The Decline of Popular Politics vividly recreates a vanished world of democratic ritual and charts its disappearance in the rapid change of industrial society. A century ago, political campaigns meant torchlight parades, spectacular pageants staged by opposing parties, and crowds of citizens attired in military dress or proudly displaying their crafts at well-attended rallies. The intense partisanship of presidential campaigns and party newspapers made political choice easy for people from all walks of life. In the late 1860s and 1870s, however, the rise of liberalism led to a rejection of partisanship by the press and a move towards "educational," rather than spectacular, electioneering. This style then lost out at the turn of the century to the sensational journalism of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, and the "advertised" campaigning of Mark Hanna and other politicians. McGerr shows how these new developments made it increasingly difficult for many Northerners to link their political impulses with political action. By the 1920s, Northern politics resembled our own public life today. A vital democratic culture had yielded to advertised campaigns, an emphasis on personalities rather than issues or partisanship, and low voter turnout. Review Well written, well researched, and extensively footnoted....Recommended for college and university libraries.-- Choice McGerr deftly traces the transformation from popular to elitist politics....[His] argument deserves a wide audience.-- Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography McGerr arrays prodigious research in manuscript collections and newspapers....[He] approach[es] political history in fresh and energetic fashion and deserve[s] credit for impressive research that enables [him] to answer old questions in new and intriguing ways.-- American Historical Review McGerr provides a rewarding, even nostalgic, glimpse into the way politics used to be in this country, and a reader can spin out some intriguing implications from his study.-- The New Leader Carefully reasoned, persuasive....Revisionist history at its most enlightening.-- Booklist Review "Well written, well researched, and extensively footnoted....Recommended for college and university libraries."― Choice "McGerr deftly traces the transformation from popular to elitist politics....[His] argument deserves a wide audience."― Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography "McGerr arrays prodigious research in manuscript collections and newspapers....[He] approach[es] political history in fresh and energetic fashion and deserve[s] credit for impressive research that enables [him] to answer old questions in new and intriguing ways."― American Historical Review "McGerr provides a rewarding, even nostalgic, glimpse into the way politics used to be in this country, and a reader can spin out some intriguing implications from his study."― The New Leader "Carefully reasoned, persuasive....Revisionist history at its most enlightening."― Booklist About the Author About the Author: Michael McGerr is Assistant Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology