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Provides a comprehensive statistical description of the American presidency, with ten essays and some 150 tables and graphs identifying key statistical patterns about the presidency as an institution, concentrating on the modern era. Includes information on personal backgrounds and political experience of presidents, campaign lengths and media coverage, elections, public activities, staffing, decision making, and the relationship between the presidency and other institutions of government. Useful for researchers and students. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Library Journal Review

In this updated version of The Elusive Executive (Congressional Quarterly Pr., 1988), which Ragsdale (political science, Univ. of Arizona) coauthored with Gary King, Ragsdale has added two administrations and has expanded the earlier categories to explore more fully statistical patterns of the presidency. Not surprisingly, over 160 figures and tables comprise the heart of this book; they are supplemented by nine interpretive essays on broad themes, such as presidential selection, elections, public opinion, policy making, and relations with Congress. Some of the tables offer comparative data back to the early 1800s, while others focus on recent presidencies. The public opinion tables are derived from the Gallup Poll Index, though most of the tables are taken from official government publications or other Congressional Quarterly books on the presidency. This very useful reference work will complement the standard sources on American government in both public and academic libraries.‘Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

A revision of Gary King's The Elusive Executive (CH, Mar'89), this book can best be described as akin to a statistical abstract of the American presidency, but more valuable because descriptive analyses accompany the data. The book is meant to reflect the American presidency as an institution rather than "emphasizing the uniqueness of individual presidents." It begins with an introductory chapter that outlines the content and examines current research trends associated with the presidency. Nine chapters follow that present data under broad topics reflecting the institution of the presidency. Chapter 1 gives data about the individual presidents; chapters 2-3 cover election data and the nominating process; chapters 4-5 provide statistics that reflect institutional behavior, by examining public appearances by the presidents and presenting public opinion data; chapters 6-7 look at the organizational structure of the presidency; chapters 8-9 examine data that illustrate the relation between the White House and other institutions in government. As with most statistical compilations, no data are presented here that are not available in other sources. The book intends to collect statistics from many sources in a single easy-to-use resource. However, its greatest value lies in the introductory essays before each chapter. Each is well written, places the data in historical context, shows how a quantitative analysis of the American presidency can broaden and enhance our understanding of institutional behavior, and explains how the statistics may highlight trends and issues regarding the executive office. Each of the approximately 150 statistical charts and tables is clearly presented and always lists the source of the data. An essential source for all libraries. R. V. Labaree University of Southern California

Booklist Review

This is a revised and updated version of The Elusive Executive: Discovering Statistical Patterns in the Presidency (Congressional Quarterly, 1988). It has been retitled to parallel two other CQ titles, Vital Statistics on American Politics and Vital Statistics on Congress [RBB F 15 94]. It is a mixture of text with charts and tables. There are statistics on elections, public-opinion polls on the presidency, public appearances, the staff of the executive branch, policy making (treaties, etc.), congressional relations, and the judiciary. While coverage begins with Washington, for topics such as public-opinion polls, it extends only back to Truman, for obvious reasons, and some tables begin with Kennedy. The purpose of this book is to illuminate the presidency as an institution, rather than the uniqueness of individual presidents. It should be considered by academic and public libraries that use the other two titles in this series. (Reviewed Feb. 15, 1996)1568020503Sandy Whiteley