Six political scientists and two library journals have reviewed Jerry Rusk’s book, A Statistical History of the American Electorate, published by Congressional Quarterly Press (2001).  Snippets of their reviews follow.

Gary Jacobson, UCSD:  “An indispensable resource for everyone who uses aggregate data to study American elections.  This book presents electoral data in a variety of forms and is also rich in Rusk’s own analyses and insights.  Scholars will be mining this mother lode of data and analysis for years to come.”

Samuel Kernell, UCSD:  “Two well-worn thumbs up!  This book breaks the mold of electoral reference works.  Rusk unearths numerous instances of glaring lapses in past data collections and the coding of party labels.”

Gary King, Harvard:  “In this massive book, Rusk compiles, corrects, sorts, documents, analyzes, and explains a huge quantity of aggregate electoral data.  Rusk’s unusual attention to accurate measurement is a model that needs to be followed in many other areas of political science.  This impressive reference source is likely to resolve controversies in the field and create new areas of research.”

Arend Lijphart, UCSD:  “An enormously impressive contribution.”

Richard Niemi, Rochester:  “An extraordinary compilation of data on voting turnout and party voting in federal and gubernatorial elections.  This book is characterized by unusual attention to detail, comprehensiveness, and accuracy.”

Helmut Norpoth, SUNY-Stony Brook:  “An immense treasure of American electoral data that is richer than anything else thus far.  Far beyond a collection of election returns, this is basic research for anyone interested in coming to grips with the ebb and flow of American elections.”

Booklist Journal:  “With this title, CQ (Press) further cements its place as publisher extraordinaire in the area of election statistics.  Essays at the beginning of each chapter . .  expand upon the author’s premise . . . that state and local politics play a larger role in America’s political history than presidential races and other national influences.  Recommended for academic libraries that support political science departments.”

Galen Reference Reviews:  “. . . monumental analysis of American voting from 1788 to 1999 . . . Rusk’s achievement is extraordinary, and A Statistical History of the American Electorate is highly recommended to academic libraries.”

Purchasing information:  Clothbound:  $59.95 (708 pp.); ISBN is 1-56802-364-2

Paperbound:  $39.95 (708 pp.); ISBN is 1-56802-363-4

To Order: Call CQ customer service at 800/638-1710