Theda Skocpol

Skocpol covered the decline of the Civil War Pension system during the late 19th century, and the rise of pensions for mothers and widows in the 1910-20s. It's a fascinating look at a very different political climate, with patronage rather than programmaticly oriented political parties, and a very weak and amateur Federal government. This book has a strong theoretical explanation of how women excluded from the vote managed to exercise political power through moral education and a unique show more conception of the public role of Motherhood. This book is also mind-numbingly dense and detail oriented, and covers policies which left no standing institutional legacy, so while a classic in feminist history, not something I can really recommend to the layperson. show less

I'll say up-front that this book most certainly could have used an additional pass with an editor... its structure and writing both suffer from being under-developed. This could be because it's not quite made for a pop audience (the authors are academics, etc), but I'm reviewing it as a pop-poli sci reader, so that's my perspective. Regardless, the picture it paints--a "how we got here" with regard to the American far-right--is helpful and detailed. I first read this book long before the show more 2016 US election and was grateful for a window into the minds of people with a very fundamentally different politics than my own. Since 2016, I've recommended it to so many friends who were puzzled/surprised by 2016's results. show less

There wasn't much to this book other than a lot of poll discussion and some anecdotes, although some of the media discussion was interesting. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone whose bookclub hasn't chosen it since it wasn't very clearly written.

Skocpol's first period was perhaps the best. Some of these essays form very interesting intros to the examined authors; others are rather prosaic