Rating: 
Summary: Good readable history
Review: The Republicans started as a nationalistic party focused on ending slavery--dare we say liberal. Gould deftly examines the party's shift from these origins to the ultra-conservatism of modern Republicans. Two pivotal moments he stresses are Teddy Roosevelt's division of the party in 1912 and the rejection of Robert Bork for Supreme Court. Gould admits at the beginning that he is a Democrat; this account remains relatively unbiased until he begins relating the history of the last twenty years or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a great sweeping account of the GOP. Beginning with the founding of the party and the election of Lincoln this book takes us through many of the essential victories and defeats of the Republican party. It looks at the Johnson impeachment crises. The scandals of Grant. The `stolen election' of 1876. The rise of Teddy Roosevelt and Taft. This book does a wonderful job at looking at the era of republican dominance(1920-1933). The author brilliantly looks at the essential problems and changes facing the GOP. The transformation of the party from one of federalism under Lincoln to one of anti-government under Reagan. He shows how the Republican party worked hard to find the soul of the nation and preserved all that was essentially American. An important account, a great reference and a good read. "party of the peaople" is a good companion valume that covers the history of the Democratic party.
Rating:
Summary: A great sweeping account
Review: This is a great sweeping account of the GOP. Beginning with the founding of the party and the election of Lincoln this book takes us through many of the essential victories and defeats of the Republican party. It looks at the Johnson impeachment crises. The scandals of Grant. The 'stolen election' of 1876. The rise of Teddy Roosevelt and Taft. This book does a wonderful job at looking at the era of republican dominance(1920-1933). The author brilliantly looks at the essential problems and changes facing the GOP. The transformation of the party from one of federalism under Lincoln to one of anti-government under Reagan. He shows how the Republican party worked hard to find the soul of the nation and preserved all that was essentially American. An important account, a great reference and a good read. "party of the peaople" is a good companion valume that covers the history of the Democratic party.
Rating:
Summary: Overall good job, but perspective is left-wing in places
Review: This is a very comprehensive and informative account of the history of the Republican Party. It covers the GOP from many angles: the principles of Republican philosophy; the constituencies; electoral history; and an understanding of the key personalities. When one finishes this book, he has a thorough knowledge of all the important points.
However, I have to agree with other reviewers that it is slanted to the left, especially in recent history where it will be most noticed. It makes the reader wonder how much of the rest of the book was portrayed unfairly.
Nevertheless, it is a commendable effort.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent history account of the GOP.
Review: This is an excellent book on the history of the GOP. One marvel of American democracy is the durability of its founding principles. The same consistency doesn't apply to the nation's major political parties. The GOP has been transformed from the party of government activism, high tariffs, and enfranchisement of African Americans and women to a foe of big government, high taxes, and affirmative action.And the common thread that runs through the GOP's history seems to be opposition to whatever the Democrats stand for. "In short," declared Indiana's Republican Governor Oliver P. Morton in 1868, "the Democratic Party may be described as a common sewer and loathsome receptacle, into which is emptied every element of treason North and South, every element of inhumanity and barbarism which has dishonored the age." Or, as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Republican grandfather told him, not every Democrat is a horse thief, but "it would seem that all horse thieves are Democrats." Current House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R. Tex.) couldn't have said it better. Gould's most interesting portrayals are of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Ike, in Gould's view, was an able politician who nonetheless failed to institutionalize his concept of "Modern Republicanism," a centrist course derided by Barry M. Goldwater as a captive of "the siren song of socialism." Reagan, the author argues, is a transformational figure who completed the ideological shift started by Goldwater, the 1964 Presidential nominee. Their Sunbelt revolution moved the GOP away from the Wall Street Establishment that had dominated it for most of the 20th century. Today's Republicans hope that their current dominance reflects a long-term realignment. Gould isn't so sure, and his admitted lack of sympathy for the GOP is likely to grate on some party loyalists. A few of his editorial judgments (he describes 1988 Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis as "a moderate, centrist Democrat") seem a tad partisan.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is an excellent read, but I felt compelled to comment on Gaetan Lion's review. Unless he is actually Richard S Dunham, of BusinessWeek, he gave a word for word review (plagiarizing)of this book right out of the BusinessWeek review. It's helpful to others to read a book & then post a review, not just copy verbatim someone else's review.
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