Overview
Now with an updated Afterword-in which the authors show how the 2006 midterm elections and the Democratic takeover of Congress validate their argument about regional divisions and why and how they will dominate the 2008 presidential election-Divided America tells the biggest story in American politics today: how new regional divisions are tearing the country's politics apart, turning both major parties into minority parties and encouraging angry constituencies to wage increasingly nasty wedge-issue campaigns.About the Author:
Earl Black is a professor of political science at Rice University in Houston
About the Author:
Merle Black, is a professor of politics and government at Emory University in Atlanta
Editorials
Donna Brazile
Before any of the 2008 candidates start counting their electoral votes, they should read the latest book by Earl and Merle Black.In their scholarly and ambitious Divided America, the Black brothers -- political scientists who have written extensively on the politics of my native South -- offer a thoughtful, thorough analysis of the undercurrents that have driven our polarized national politics in recent decades. Their clear text, supported by voluminous charts and graphs, illustrates how deeply divided the country has become -- and perhaps not along the lines readers will expect.— The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Politics by the numbers is the modus operandi of the Black brothers, twins who teach political science (Earl at Rice University, Merle at Emory University). Having focused on politics in the Southern states in three previous academic collaborations, the Blacks now divide the United States into five regions (South, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Midwest, Mountains/Plains), and explain how and why national electoral politics have become a close contest between two parties, Democrats and Republicans, that cannot claim permanent majority status. Most of the election data they examine comes from presidential elections; their analysis of races for the House of Representatives and the Senate come toward the end and are out of kilter with the results of the November 2006 House and Senate elections. Still, the Blacks' generalizations deserve consideration. They believe the Democrats are quite likely to retain advantages in the Northeast and Pacific Coast regions, while the Republicans are quite likely to win the South and Mountains/Plains regions in the 2008 election. That leaves the Midwest as the swing region. (The Blacks define the Midwest as 10 states, including Kentucky and West Virginia.) Though the book will probably fascinate politics junkies, the emphasis on statistics rather than lively anecdotes means rough going for qualitative rather than quantitative minds. 34 charts and tables. (Mar.)
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