Quest for the Presidency: The Storied and Surprising History of Presidential Campaigns in America

by Bob Riel

Overview

Quest for the Presidency gathers in a single volume the compelling stories behind every presidential campaign in American history, from 1789 through 2020. Bob Riel takes us inside the 1800 clash between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the 1860 election that launched the Civil War, the 1948 whistle-stop comeback of Harry Truman, the Kennedy-Nixon drama of 1960, the 1980 Reagan Revolution, the historic 2008 election of Barack Obama, the turbulent 2020 battle between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and everything in between.

This engaging and insightful book includes a trove of entertaining stories about campaigns and candidates, and it goes beyond the campaign tales to also consider the threads that link elections across time. It sheds light on the continually evolving story of American democracy in a way that helps us to better understand present-day politics.

 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640122307
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	04/01/2022
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bob Riel is an author and freelance journalist who has written about history, politics, and travel for a variety of publications. He earned a master’s degree in political science from Boston College, with a focus on the history of American presidential elections.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Presidential History over Coffee
1. 1789–1820: The Founding Generation
2. 1824–56: The Rise of the Democratic, Whig, and Republican Parties
3. 1860–92: The Civil War and Its Aftermath
4. 1896–1928: A New Politics for a New Century
5. 1932–64: The New Deal to the Great Society
6. 1968–2004: Upheaval in American Politics
7. 2008–20: History in the Making
Epilogue: The Past, Present, and Future of Politics in America
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Riel delivers a comprehensive and readable volume on American presidential elections, one that contains plenty of tea leaves for political junkies to interpret in their effort to learn what will happen next."—Todd Carney, Real Clear Politics

From the Publisher