Presidential Mandates : How Elections Shape the National Agenda (American Politics and Political Economy Series)

Rating:
Summary: MUST HAVE for anyone studying the presidency
Review: Patricia Conley's book provides a must needed boost to presidential scholarship, which has unfortunately experienced a decline in popularity among academics (excepting, of course, the clamor to publish anything related to Bush v. Gore).
Conley shows that there ARE STILL interesting aspects of the presidency that have yet to be researched. In the long run, the book's most valuable contribution may be its potential for explaining the early legislative successes of President Bush (who by any reasonable standard had no mandate whatsoever).
Conley has also managed to write a book that is accessible AND interesting to a variety of readers. Her book is well written, with enough substantive information to pique the interest of undergrads and casual readers but with enough well designed statistical analyses to satisfy even the most ardent of number crunchers.