Outstanding Academic Titles 2023: U.S. Politics

This week we highlight, Outstanding Academic Titles from the past year pertaining to U.S. Politics.

Posted on June 21, 2024 in Outstanding Academic Titles

Enjoy these five selections from the Choice Reviews 2023 Outstanding Academic Titles list. This week we highlight, Outstanding Academic Titles from the past year pertaining to U.S. Politics. A hearty congratulations to the winning authors, editors and publishers!

1. The power of partisanship
Dyck, Joshua J. by Joshua J. Dyck and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz Oxford, 2023

The central argument of this important book is that “the growth in affective partisan polarization, and the resulting negativity voters feel toward the opposition party, has far reaching, often toxic effects on how Americans behave both inside and outside the realm of politics” (p. 3). Using a wide range of quantitative techniques and experiments with YouGov and National Election Studies surveys, the authors deliver many important findings, including: (1) partisan attachments are stronger than more malleable underlying values and ideological viewpoints; (2) “polarization with the current information marketplace begets polarization” (p. 45); (3) ”political party preferences drive people to differentiate further outside the political realm, from what they eat to what car they drive” (p. 68); (4) partisan information can change individuals’ risk assessments; (5) political independents “respond to their lived context in more rational and informed ways than partisans” (p. 145); and (6) on questions of important policy knowledge, there is little difference between partisans and pure independents. In sum, widespread affective polarization and negative partisanship among knowledgeable and active citizens are troublesome conditions for American democracy, threatening rational and informed governance. This is an important cautionary tale, well supported by the authors’ evidence. View on Amazon

2. Our common bonds: using what Americans share to help bridge the partisan divide
Levendusky, Matthew. Chicago, 2023

Levendusky (Univ. of Pennsylvania), an accomplished scholar of US political polarization, addresses an intriguing question: How can “affective polarization”—defined as “animosity and ill will between the parties” (p. 2)—be reduced? After ably summarizing the “pernicious consequences” of polarization (p. 11), he examines the prospects for three reduction strategies. Perhaps polarization can recede if (1) a common “American” identity is primed and made more salient, (2) partisans share important, personal, cross-party relationships, or (3) cross-partisan dialogue grows. Using observational surveys and experimental data, Levendusky finds evidence that each of these strategies reduces affective polarization, with cross-partisan dialogue having the biggest reductive effect. He concludes that affective polarization is “more malleable than we think” (p. 137), but also cautions that exposure to these strategies would need to be much more constant and lengthier for them to improve America’s political system. Despite his promising findings, the real-world impact of his strategies is at best uncertain. Central traits of the national political environment—an ever-expanding policy agenda, social media dominated by extreme partisan voices, and electoral strategies that employ polarization successfully—remain big obstacles to Levendusky’s remedies. This book will stimulate great classroom discussions. View on Amazon

3. The two moralities: conservatives, liberals, and the roots of our political divide
Janoff-Bulman, Ronnie. Yale, 2023

The Two Moralities provides a very valuable review of the basis of the dangerous partisan divide in American politics. Janoff-Bulman (emer., psychology, Univ. of Massachusetts) maintains that much of this divide centers on differing moralities, and her book does an excellent job of explaining the different moral visions involved and how they play out in policy debates. Conservatives embrace a notion of morality that focuses on rules and the importance of how people operate within them. If some people fail and others succeed, then the outcomes have a moral basis. Liberals approach society very differently. They believe that people should have the support and autonomy to succeed, and a moral society should offer these provisions. This means that social programs are necessary to help people in difficult circumstances. In short, while conservatives see individualism with rules as the sum of a moral society, liberals have concerns for collective conditions. The differences are emotional and fundamental. For readers seeking to understand these differences, this is an excellent book. View on Amazon

4. Rethinking racial uplift: rhetorics of Black unity and disunity in the Obama era
Malcolm, Nigel I. University Press of Mississippi, 2022

What is the impact of racial uplift on African American political thought? Is it a viable ideological strain or a remnant of conservative ideology with limited utility for understanding contemporary political debates? Malcolm (communications, Keene State College) explores the effects of this idea in this nuanced and impactful new book. He examines the works of several public intellectuals, including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Randall Kennedy, and Eugene Robinson, to interrogate how the idea of racial uplift is understood as a philosophy and in policy. He finds that the meaning of the idea has evolved from a shared goal of group advancement to an individualized state in which the achievements of a few symbolize racial possibility in the US. This shift from community empowerment to individual accomplishment complicates uses of this ideology in contemporary African American politics. This incisive, thought-provoking book illuminates the ideological tension at the root of an influential idea. View on Amazon.

5. Baby Ninth Amendments: how Americans embraced unenumerated rights and why it matters Sanders, Anthony B. Michigan, 2023

Baby Ninth Amendments is the first and—to this point—only book-length treatment of an amendment that appears in two-thirds of US state constitutions. The amendments are called “Baby Ninths” because they are versions of the Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution, which says, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Until recently, so little attention has been paid to this amendment that the first book-length treatment of the US Constitution’s Ninth Amendment was titled The Forgotten Ninth. Sanders (Institute for Justice) explores the history of these amendments: how and when they came to be, how judges have interpreted or ignored them, what they mean, and the potential role they offer state constitutions and their interpreters. Though involving some intricate points of constitutional law in the US system of dual constitutionalism, this book can be read with profit by college-educated lay people and constitutional scholars alike. Fascinating, informative, and essential. View on Amazon.

Read more about Choice Outstanding Academic Titles.

Sign up for the weekly Outstanding Academic Titles enewsletter

Between December and June you’ll receive a weekly enewsletter from Choice highlighting a themed snippet from our list of Outstanding Academic Titles of 2023.

Sign Up Now

Enjoying our reviews? Academic librarians may sign up for a complimentary trial of Choice Reviews for their institution.

*Trial limited to academic institutions that have not had a trial/subscription to Choice Reviews in the past 24 months. The offer is limited to institutional trials only, not available to individuals/publishers.

Read previously published Outstanding Academic Title list snippets.

Related Posts