American politics seems to be in an unprecedented uproar. But in this revelatory work of political history, James A. Morone shows that today's rancor isn't what's new -- the clarity of the battle lines is. Past eras were full of discord, but the most contentious question in American society -- Who are we? -- never split along party lines.
"The 1968 election was and remains spellbinding. Unlike modern presidential campaigns, where a dozen or more unknowns vie for debate stage sound bites, that year nine titans battled for the presidency. Fifty years later, most people are unaware that in a single race former Vice President Richard Nixon, California Governor Ronald Reagan, President Lyndon Johnson, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Senator Eugene McCarthy, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, former Alabama Governor George Wallace, and Michigan Governor George Romney all squared off for the White House. The shocking assassination of Robert Kennedy on the night of his California primary victory left a gaping hole in history and for five decades left this unanswered question: What if?"--Amazon