Wilson Books

James Bryce's "The American Commonwealth" is a basic text of American government and politics, one of three such texts, the others being Hamilton, Madison, and Jay The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics), and de Tocqueville Democracy In America (Complete). These three works, two by foreigners, form the groundwork of a basic understanding of the American system of government. Such an understanding is basic to good citizenship. The lack of such an understanding is sadly demonstrated every day by America's journalists, professors, politicians, and average citizens.

Reading Bryce's "Commonwealth" seems a formidable task at the beginning, since it is two volumes with a total of over 1600 pages. Yet once you begin, Lord Bryce's style is so natural, almost conversational, and the material so interesting to anyone with the slightest interest in American history and politics (and shouldn't that include every American citizen?), that it is actually a very easy book to read.

Bryce was Scottish, born in Belfast, Ireland. He became an attorney and a professor of law at Oxford, then a member of Parliament. He was Ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913, became a viscount in 1914. He was very well-traveled and well-known in the US, about as well-qualified as anyone could be to write a description of the American form of government. Because of his reputation as a friend of America he had an important influence on the US entry into World War One on the Allied side.

The first volume covers the national and state governments, the second volume covers the party system, public opinion, and various aspects of American political and social life. The first edition was published in 1888, and it was last revised in 1914. Over the years Bryce made many revisions as his observations and knowledge of America broadened and deepened.

Bryce explains exactly how American government works. A listing of some of the more significant chapters will give an idea of the subjects covered:

Chapter 3: The Origins of the Constitution
Chapter 8: Why Great Men are not Chosen President
Chapter 33: The Interpretation of the Constitution
Chapter 34: The Development of the Constitution by Usage
Chapter 53: Political Parties and Their History
Chapter 78: How Public Opinion Rules in America
Chapter 84: The Tyranny of the Majority
Chapter 85: The Fatalism of the Multitude

Of special interest are three appendices. The first is a review by Bryce of the predictions of Hamilton and de Tocqueville. The second is a review of "The American Commonwealth" written in 1889 by Woodrow Wilson when Wilson was a professor of political science at Weslyan University in Connecticut. The third is a review by Lord Acton.

Bryce believed that had the Constitution been put to a popular vote in 1787 it would never have passed. As it was, the only reason the Constitution gained popular support was because of the fear of foreign powers. As Bryce puts it, in the years following the Revolution and the collapse of the Articles of Confederation, Americans felt very vulnerable to foreign intervention:

"The fear of foreign interference, the sense of weakness, both at sea and on land, against the military monarchies of Europe, was constantly before the mind of American statesmen, and made them anxious to secure at all hazards a national government capable of raising an army and navy, and of speaking with authority on behalf of the new republic."

His comments on the relationship between the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the American people are very timely.

Of the Presidency he says, "The president has developed a capacity for becoming, in moments of national peril, something like a Roman dictator."

His description of the development of the political parties is equally timely, and is the best I have ever read.

Some final quotations from Bryce:

"Someone has said that the American government and Constitution are based on the theology of Calvin and the philosophy of Hobbes. This at least is true, that there is a hearty Puritanism in the view of human nature which pervades the instrument of 1787. It is the work of men who believed in original sin, and were resolved to leave open for transgressors no door which they could possibly shut. Compare this spirit with the enthusiastic optimism of the Frenchmen of 1789. It is not merely a difference of race temperaments; it is a difference of fundamental ideas."

He ends on this pessimistic note, echoing Benjamin Franklin:

"To expect any form of words, however weightily conceived, with whatever sanctions enacted, permanently to restrain the passions and interests of men is to expect the impossible. Beyond a certain point, you cannot protect the people against themselves any more than you can, to use a familiar American expression, lift yourself from the ground by your own bootstraps."

Highly recommended in this authoritative and economical edition.

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The American Family is part of the H.W. Wilson Company's "The Reference Shelf 2003" series for academic and community library collections. This 182 page reference is comprised of twenty-five scholarly articles plus abstracts of additional articles and a bibliography of sources. The focus is upon the diversity of contemporary American family lifestyles including homes led by divorced or single parents, stepfamilies, interfaith and interracial marriages, gay partnerships, childless couples, the traditional nuclear family, an other domestic structures. Also covered are such family relevant issues as reproductive technologies and the emerging controversy of reproduction by cloning. The American Family is a seminal, timely, and invaluable contribution to academic, govern-mental, and professional demographic reference resources.

This is a well-presented, comprehensive account of California government. I use the latest edition of the book in my American Politics class. This book has a wealth of details that are relevant in our politics and society, as well as easy to find and understand. Have you ever wanted to know exactly how many state-wide officials are elected in California and who they are? You will find the answer in this book. What is the structure of the judiciary and how has it been reformed since 1998, when the voters passed the initiative that streamlined the system? The answer is here. I like this book and recommend it to undergraduate students who study California politics and professors who teach the subject on the undegraduate level. By the way, I mean "students" in the most general sense. Even if you are not in college but want to really know more about California politics rather than read a bombastic, sensationalist account of current events, pick up this book.

Most of us who remember the American Heritage Junior Library from our youths have fond memories of it and this volume on "Franklin Delano Roosevelt" by Wilson Sullivan shows why. Opposite the Foreword there is a page showing postage stamps commemorating FDR from Monaco, El Salvador, and the United States; Roosevelt was a dedicated philatelist from his youth. This represents the sort of details that are found through this informative volume. Just in terms of the photographs you have FDR playing Uncle Bopaddy in his senior year at Groton, about to lift himself out of a car in 1932, the edited first page of his first inaugural address, a bottle celebrating the TVA with Roosevelt's head as the cork, and FDR driving around Fala, the infamous Scotch terrier. There are also the most famous pictures of FDR's political career: standing on a street talking with a voter during the Depression and the tear stained face of Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson playing "Going Home" after the President's death. Add to this a few choice cartoons about both Franklin (A young boy write "ROOSEVELT" on the sidewalk and his sister reports "Mother, Wilfred wrote a bad word") and Eleanor (one amazed miner deep underground tells the other, "For gosh sakes, here comes Mrs. Roosevelt).

The Editors of "American Heritage" magazine set the tone for this look at FDR by making it clear that it was not until the summer of 1921 when Roosevelt was struck down by polio that his character turned into that of a great politician (and political leader, since those are not the same thing). The key quote is Roosevelt's political philosophy that "Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship." Within that context Sullivan tells the story of FDR's life and political career as emphasizing action rather than talk and experimentation rather that theory, both of which are exemplified as the guiding principles behind his legislative New Deal. Within these pages Sullivan tries to reconcile the scion of Hyde Park with the diplomat of Casablanca, Teheran, and Yalta. However, it must be noted that you will not find any mention of Lucy Mercer, the woman with whom FDR had an affair in 1918 and in whose presence he died in 1945. Still, it is easy to see what that sort of detail would not be deemed important in a juvenile biography published in 1970; today, such things have considerably more salience, as I am sure most young students are painfully aware.

One advantage of this volume is that it focuses primarily on Roosevelt's years in the White House. The first chapter deals with his life before being stricken with polio while FDR is elected president by the end of the second. Chapters are then devoted to the New Deal, FDR's reinvention of government, his efforts to prepare the nation for World War II, and his tenure as Commander in Chief for most of the war. Young readers will get a sense of exactly why FDR was the first 20th century President to get his visage on a coin and understand why the Republicans passed through a Constitutional Amendment limiting Presidents to two terms of office as soon as they controlled Congress. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the most significant President of the 20th century (Richard Nixon comes in second because of detente and Watergate) and this book certainly helps you appreciate that particular judgment of history.

Great resource for learning about US history by seeing it recreated in fun/challenging movies to watch with your family or class.

An invaluable asset to both genealogists, and historians, interested in the Loyalists of the American Revolution. I have made extensive use of Coldham's work, found it accurate and, seemingly, error free. Indexing of both persons and subjects is astonishingly complete, and one only wishes that a second volume may be forthcoming.

A quality production, this.

Two volumes, large format, on heavy paper, in a slipcase. Sturdy bindings: cloth over hardback boards with heavy dustcovers.

The illustrations are the work of Skira Color Studios in Lausanne; every one of the 130 color plates is tipped in (printed separately from the book on glossy stock and then glued in on one edge.) They are beautiful, containing an extraordinary amount of color and texture.

Volume 1, by Prown, takes us up to the Armory Show. Volume 2, by Rose covers the 20th century (up to time of publication.) Indexed with 9 pp bibliographic information.

Table of Contents

The Colonial Period
The Federal Period: Americans at Home and Abroad
The Search for Identity
Art for the People From Art for the Sake of Art to the Ashcan School

The Armory Show and Its Aftermath
The Crisis of the Thirties
The New York School
The Sixties

The ideas presented in this book are very useful. There is a section on American Humor, as well as a nice selection of reading material, questions about comprehension, pronunciation drills. The text may be a little difficult for some students to read on their own, but it provides some excellent material for teachers, along with some good insights into the problems students may face.

The book came promptly and in wonderful condition.