History in Sherman Park

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Schell's detailed account of how the members of one Middle American family arrived at their voting choices in the 1984 presidential campaign is as bland as the campaign itself. Reprinted from the New Yorker, this essay traces the political thinking of a pseudonymous Milwaukee family and their circle of friends and relatives. From this microcosmic analysis, Schell (The Fate of the Earth) concludes that many voters saw the Democrats as pessimists because Mondale emphasized the limits of U.S. military intervention and industrial growth. Reagan was viewed as an optimist. Schell also finds that as the two major parties increasingly abdicate their role of organizing people's thinking, Americans are growing less and less attached to parties, and to politics in general. How the ordinary voter makes peace with the threat of total nuclear annihilation is an underlying theme. (October28)

Library Journal

Although not as powerful as his Fate of the Earth ( LJ 4/15/82), Schell's sixth book is a compelling analysis of voting decisions made by a suburban Milwaukee couple, their family, and friends. Schell records the subjects' comments and his observations and analysis. Most of the subjects came of age in the 1960s and 1970s; by exploring their histories, Schell considers changes in the political climate over 25 years. Recurring themes are the economy, the ``optimism-pessimism dichotomy'' of the Reagan-Mondale election, and the receding interest in political issues among today's voting-age population. An interesting slice-of-life look at voting decisions. Robert Aken, Univ. of Kentucky Lib., Lexington