Placing Parties in American Politics: Organization, Electoral Settings, and Government Activity in the Twentieth Century by David R. Mayhew (review)

Shorter Book Reviews 111 Wright's analysis is also noteworthy for his evenhanded treatment of the conservative Republican opponents to reform. Although Wright's sympathies clearly rest with the progressives, especially Robert Bass, the author does not accept at face value their charges of corruption, and he explains the ambiguous and changing nature of the ties between the Republican old guard and the Boston and Maine railroad. The book exposes the strengths and weaknesses in both political camps. Overall, Wright combines this kind of balance with subtle shading in the portrayal of historical characters, careful analysis of competing political strategies and a sensitivity to ambiguity and complexity, to create a fascinating narrative of politicalconflict and reform. Evan Anders Department of History University of Texas at Arlington David R. Mayhew. Placing Parties in American Politics: Organization, Electoral Settings, and Government Activity in the Twentieth Century. Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1986. xv+ 395pp. Political parties have been a source of controversy in the United States for decades, both as an issue of public policy and as a subject for analysis by political scientists. For roughly the past century, a major theme of American politics has been the necessity for reform of the party system. The Progressive movement's legacy has been a distrust of traditional patronagebased party organizations. These have been supplanted and even rendered ineffective by the introduction of the civilservice system, the emergence of strong executives who appeal directly to the voters through increasingly candidate-oriented campaign organizations, decreasing party control over legislators, and the introduction of various techniques of direct democracy. Generally, political scientists have lamented the decline of the parties and often have been in the vanguard of those calling for a strengthening of the party system. In this rich and provocative work, David Mayhew investigates the reality of the party system without taking anything for granted. Even such icons of the profession as V.0. Key, Jr., and E.E. Schattschneider are not exempt from his analysis. Mayhew contends that a major shift away from a politics anchored in traditional party organizations (TPO) has occurred and need not be lamented because TPOs have not necessarilybeen beneficial for 112 Shorter Book Reviews the political system. The basis for this insight is an exhaustive examination of local party structures and practices in each of the states as of the late 1960s. Aside from the significant theoretical value of the book, the extensive first part, with its detailed data about local party politics, is a gold mine for the serious student. Notably, his tour de horizon is substantiated by voluminous footnotes that take up nearly half of every page. The footnotes constitute a valuable and substantial bibliographic resource; consequently, close examination of the book is a rewarding experience. Complementing the prodigious research that went into the compilation of the data base is the equally prodigious effort that is reflected in the second part of the book, which deals with relationships between party structures and their effect on the political system. First of all, Mayhew finds that the older states (those admitted by 1821) tended to have the strongest party organizations, following long historical patterns. Secondly, the environments in which TPOs were most effective tended to have few of the common features of American politics, such as the salience of issues and cleavages, or the presence of "pressure politics,"but they were high in terms of organizational autonomy. Finally, he discovered that "having traditional party organizations is associated with having relatively small public economies." This relative failure to generate significant government activity represents a significant loss to the public. Mayhew clearly prefers a derivative of the Progressive model, which he believes energized government and helped provide the appropriate orientation of public life in this century. He thus challenges common assumptions concerning the efficacy of systems based on patronage. Despite the unquestioned value of this admirable work, the book is marred by an infelicitous writing style that detracts from the enjoyment that one should derive from reading such material. Furthermore, Mayhew does not summarize clearly and has burdened the reader with a somewhat confusing and elaborate structure. As a result, the book requires more careful attention than might otherwise be the case. On...