THE AMERICAN PARTY SYSTEMS

Although no provisions for a system of political parties were written into the Constitution, the reality of political life has rendered them essential to the functioning of the American representative form of government. Indispensability has not spared our party system from accusative charges that it restricts choice, narrows the confines of political debate, and increasingly has lent itself to the domination of the moneyed class. In a collection of articles that relates to the historical past of the party as well as its contemporary operational role, the editors have sought to cover all the points of controversy and to enumerate the grounds for disappointment and hope. As we are taken through the stages of party development, by a prose style that shouldn't trouble literary sensibilities, we encounter not so much a series of new insights as a restatement of some of the best descriptive and analytical material that has been made available by students of the subject.