Preface
Introduction
I: The House in Sam Rayburn's Time
II: Toward Liberalization
III: Causes of Liberalization
IV: Consequences: Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System?
V: Overview: How Congress Evolves
Appendix: Methods and Sources
Notes
Nelson Polsby is Heller Professor of Political Science at the
University of California, Berkeley where he has taught American
politics and government since 1967. A close Congress watcher for
more than 40 years, he is the author of, among others, Congress and
the Presidency, and Presidential Elections (with Aaron Wildavsky,
10th edition.) He is editor of the Annual Review of Political
Science and writes often for the Op-ed
pages of the LA Times, Boston Globe, New York Times, Wall Street
Journal and Washington Post.
"A new work on Congress by one of the most prominent scholars of
American government in the past half century is a major event....
How Congress Evolves is an intelligent, eminently readable and
accessible study that accurately summarizes how Congress has
changed in the last half century and the reasons behind that
change.... Nelson Polsby has produced another valuable addition to
his considerable corpus of scholarship on American government that
will
assist congressional experts, undergraduate and graduate students,
and the politically aware general reader in understanding the
contemporary Congress."--Perspectives on Politics
"Polsby's How Congress Evolves is crisply written and argued,
moving logically toward an explanation of how Congress changes over
time. It should be read by anyone serious about the subject of how
political institutions evolve."--The Weekly Standard
"Nelson Polsby always offers a fresh and insightful perspective on
Congress. Few observers pull together the historical perspective,
and original analysis and trenchant observations as well as Nelson
Polsby does." Congressman Lamar Smith (R. Texas)
"Nelson Polsby has been studying, reading about and hanging around
the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 40 years. In How
Congress Evolves, he provides the definitive--and often
witty-account of how the House has changed over time, and why."
Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report, co-author,The Almanac of
American Politics
"Nelson Polsby has given several generations of political
scientists and historians a better understanding of that complex
body the Congress of the United States. His new book shows us how
the House of Representatives has responded to the enormous changes
in American life over the past half century. Like its author, it is
lively, engaging, and wise." Morton Keller, History Department,
Brandeis University
"Combining historical breadth and intimate detail, Nelson Polsby
explains how and why the U.S. Congress came to change both its
ideological makeup and its internal decision-making processes at
mid century. An important book by a gifted storyteller, How
Congress Evolves is a treatise in its sweep and a memoir in its
depth. No other political scientist could have delivered this
combination of strengths." Richard Fenno, author of Home Style:
House
Members in their Districts
"How Congress Evolves is Nelson Polsby's magnum opus. Polsby is an
institution among congressional scholars and this book will be a
classic work on Congress along with the writings of Woodrow Wilson
and Richard Fenno. Polsby's wonderful observations from his
interviews and deft use of data about stability and change in
Congress combined with his humor make the book hard to put down
once you start reading it." James A. Thurber, Professor and
Director,
Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies American
University
"Elegant.... his overarching argument is demographic and focuses on
the rise of the Republican Party in the South and the myriad
consequences of that regional realignment for the House as an
institution."--The American Prospect
"Elegant.... captures.... the interplay between the rise of the
right and the growth of congresional partisanship--and the ways in
which liberal institutional reform hastened both
developments."--The American Prospect
"Polsby's How Congress Evolves is crisply written and argued,
moving logically toward an explanation of how Congress changes over
time. It should be read by anyone serious about the subject of how
political institutions evolve."--The Weekly Standard
"A new work on Congress by one of the most prominent scholars of
American government in the past half century is a major event....
How Congress Evolves is an intelligent, eminently readable and
accessible study that accurately summarizes how Congress has
changed in the last half century and the reasons behind that
change.... Nelson Polsby has produced another valuable addition to
his considerable corpus of scholarship on American government that
will
assist congressional experts, undergraduate and graduate students,
and the politically aware general reader in understanding the
contemporary Congress."--Perspectives on Politics
"Nelson Polsby always offers a fresh and insightful perspective on
Congress. Few observers pull together the historical perspective,
and original analysis and trenchant observations as well as Nelson
Polsby does."--Congressman Lamar Smith (R. Texas)
"Nelson Polsby has been studying, reading about and hanging around
the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 40 years. In How
Congress Evolves, he provides the definitive--and often
witty-account of how the House has changed over time, and why."
Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report, co-author,The Almanac of
American Politics
"Nelson Polsby has given several generations of political
scientists and historians a better understanding of that complex
body the Congress of the United States. His new book shows us how
the House of Representatives has responded to the enormous changes
in American life over the past half century. Like its author, it is
lively, engaging, and wise." Morton Keller, History Department,
Brandeis University
"Combining historical breadth and intimate detail, Nelson Polsby
explains how and why the U.S. Congress came to change both its
ideological makeup and its internal decision-making processes at
mid century. An important book by a gifted storyteller, How
Congress Evolves is a treatise in its sweep and a memoir in its
depth. No other political scientist could have delivered this
combination of strengths." Richard Fenno, author of Home Style:
House
Members in their Districts
"How Congress Evolves is Nelson Polsby's magnum opus. Polsby is an
institution among congressional scholars and this book will be a
classic work on Congress along with the writings of Woodrow Wilson
and Richard Fenno. Polsby's wonderful observations from his
interviews and deft use of data about stability and change in
Congress combined with his humor make the book hard to put down
once you start reading it." James A. Thurber, Professor and
Director,
Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies American
University
"How Congress Evolves is elegantly written, cogently argued and
politically astute. Nelson Polsby gives his readers the benefit of
four decades and more of immersion in and observation of Congress,
along with his penetrating insights into politics, people and
institutions and a writing style that is at once accessible and
sophisticated. Novices and experts, students and practitioners,
scholars and journalists, all will learn immensely about how
the
House of Representatives works and how it changes."-- Norman
Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute
Ask a Question About this Product More... |