“Contravening conventional wisdom, Zelizer offers a spirited defense of parties and partisanship.” —Frances Lee, Princeton University
Partisanship is a dirty word in American politics. If there is one issue on which almost everyone in our divided country seems to agree, it’s the belief that the intense loyalty within the electorate toward Democrats and Republicans is the source of our democratic ills—division, dysfunction, distrust, and disinformation. The possibilities that responsible partisanship can offer were at the heart of an important intellectual tradition that flourished in the 1950s and 1960s, one which was institutionalized through a sweeping set of congressional reforms in the 1970s and 1980s.
In Defense of Partisanship reimagines what partisanship might look like going forward from today. A new era of party-oriented reforms has the potential to pay respect to the deep differences that divide us—simultaneously creating a more functional path on which two responsible political parties compete to shape policy while still being able to govern.
“How did our politics get so bad? How do we get to a better place? In this fresh, important, and wonderfully accessible book, Zelizer answers the big questions with deep historical knowledge and analytical grace. It gives me hope that ‘responsible partisanship’ and real reform of Congress can prevail.” —Jonathan Alter, author of American Reckoning: Inside Trump’s Trial—and My Own
“Contravening conventional wisdom, Zelizer offers a spirited defense of parties and partisanship. Rather than futile attempts to reverse polarization, In Defense of Partisanship advocates for political and institutional reforms to channel partisan impulses toward more democratically accountable policymaking.” —Frances Lee, professor of politics and public affairs, Princeton University
“Julian Zelizer has long been one of America’s best political historians, and this fascinating little book about the evolution of US parties and the fierce battle between them today contains more wisdom than any other volume on the subject. Anyone who cares about the past and future of our public life should read it—and politicians should take his ideas for how to reform the system to heart.” —Michael Kazin, author of What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party and professor of history, Georgetown University
“Julian Zelizer deploys his formidable skills to illuminate what has gone wrong with American democracy and how we might fix it. In Defense of Partisanship is powerful and engaging, and penetrating in its analysis of how well-intentioned Congressional reforms of the 1970s went so awry. Essential reading.” —Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
“As anyone familiar with Julian Zelizer’s books, articles, and broadcasts about American politics already knows, he is one of our foremost public intellectuals. With this book, he turns his rigorous scholarship, incisive analysis, and lucid prose to the defense of what he aptly calls ‘responsible partisanship.’ Rather than offer a paean to some imaginary Congressional past, or a cri de coeur of hopelessness about the nation’s present polarization, Zelizer sets forth a plausible, achievable agenda for restoring the most productive kind of party loyalty and organization. Think of this book as a manual for democracy.” —Samuel Freedman, author of Into the Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights
“This book is instantly essential. Too many commentators bewail our hyperpartisan politics. Julian Zelizer does something much better—he explores the long and fascinating history of America’s political parties, explains the current moment, and offers a road map back to sanity.” —Ted Widmer, author of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington
Julian E. Zelizer is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University, a CNN political analyst and a contributor to NPR’s Here & Now. He is the author and editor of numerous books, most recently Myth America and Burning Down the House. He lives in New York City.
