Rating: 
Summary: A Landmark in Political History
Review: The reviews by Tom Daschle and Richard Gephardt on the back of the book say it all; this history of the Democrats follows the party since its birth in the late 18th century until today. The author goes into detail about each election, each democratic convention, the opposing viewpoints within the party and all the turmoil in between. I have learned more from this book than any other I can recall reading, plus it is exciting enough to make you want to pick it up and read all 700 plus pages. Witcover has a certain way of bringing the past to life, that will make this an amazing read for anyone interested in American or political history.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent history of the Democratic party.
Review: This is an excellent book on the history of the Democratic party. One marvel of American democracy is the durability of its founding principles. The same consistency doesn't apply to the nation's two major political parties. The Democratic Party, created in the factional tumult of post-revolutionary days, has changed from a predominantly rural, racist, states' rights party into an organ of urban minorities, liberals, and federal power. The one constant among Democrats was best identified by Will Rogers: "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat."Witcover writes at length of the key figures in Democratic annals such as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, William Jennings Bryan, and FDR, with an eye for details that bring history to life. His description of the ailing Roosevelt's duplicitous scheming to replace Vice President Henry A. Wallace with Missouri Senator Harry S Truman in 1944 offers insight into the great Democrat's character. But Witcover also devotes space to important but lesser-known figures: Martin Van Buren, for instance, was a wily New York Senator whose skillful 1828 promotion of Andrew Jackson's war-hero image paved the way for modern electioneering. Although Witcover, a liberal columnist, is sympathetic to the Democrats, he doesn't hesitate to condemn the party's dark moments. A particularly odious Democrat, in Witcover's mind, is 15th President James Buchanan, a virulent racist who, in the years just before the Civil War, blamed national friction on the Northern abolitionists he said were stirring up slaves with hopes of freedom.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent history of the Democratic party.
Review: This is an excellent book on the history of the Democratic party. One marvel of American democracy is the durability of its founding principles. The same consistency doesn't apply to the nation's two major political parties. The Democratic Party, created in the factional tumult of post-revolutionary days, has changed from a predominantly rural, racist, states' rights party into an organ of urban minorities, liberals, and federal power. The one constant among Democrats was best identified by Will Rogers: "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat." Witcover writes at length of the key figures in Democratic annals such as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, William Jennings Bryan, and FDR, with an eye for details that bring history to life. His description of the ailing Roosevelt's duplicitous scheming to replace Vice President Henry A. Wallace with Missouri Senator Harry S Truman in 1944 offers insight into the great Democrat's character. But Witcover also devotes space to important but lesser-known figures: Martin Van Buren, for instance, was a wily New York Senator whose skillful 1828 promotion of Andrew Jackson's war-hero image paved the way for modern electioneering. Although Witcover, a liberal columnist, is sympathetic to the Democrats, he doesn't hesitate to condemn the party's dark moments. A particularly odious Democrat, in Witcover's mind, is 15th President James Buchanan, a virulent racist who, in the years just before the Civil War, blamed national friction on the Northern abolitionists he said were stirring up slaves with hopes of freedom.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: To begin with, Witcover is not a professional historian, but rather a veteran journalist who has covered Democratic politics for many decades. His insights are valuable in terms of the more recent history of the party. He still provides a pretty good overall history of the early Democratic Party as well, though I would have liked a little more information on the Jacksonian Era and other periods in the party's history. Most of his sources for this book are secondary ones, which are valuable, but others including some primary ones would have been useful too.
I'm always a little skeptical of including Jefferson among the early founders of the Democratic Party. Our earliest presidents, while certainly grouped into different factions, did not resemble our modern concept of political parties. Nevertheless it was an important period in the early formation of the inevitable party system that would develop over time.
While Witcover probably is a Democrat, though I don't think he stated it, he does a fairly good job of detailing the party's successes and failures. He is quite skilled in describing the differences and controversies within the party itself, especially over the issue of segregation which Southern Democrats were adament about. He certainly demonstrated his criticisms of party leaders as well, including Bill Clinton's personal failings.
In the writing of history, objectivity should be the goal of every historian, but we must also acknowledge that everybody brings a certain amount of bias into their work. Objectivity is especially hard in politics since most of us declare a preference, as I do and I'm a Democrat.
This book is mainly a study of Democratic presidents, and that can be subject to fair criticism since the party permeates all branches and levels of government. But the president is the symbolic head of the party and discussing the history of the party in all branches of government at great detail and at the state and local level would require more than a one volume book. Bottom line there are many other great books on the party if this one doesn't satisfy you.
I think Witcover is to be commended for providing a solid one volume book on the history of a party that is not always known for its cohesiveness. Witcover appropriately uses that famous quote by Will Rogers in the beginning of the book. He ends by saying that while the party has had to confront intraparty squabbling, and it looks like that will continue for quite some time, they at least share a common belief in economic and social justice and still are the party of the common man, though I think they have a lot of work to do to get back to that image.
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