The Ballot Box

by Chris Barsanti

Every four years, candidates make their case to the American people about why they are the best choice for president. In one election, a majority of voters might want a president who seems able to fix a troubled economy. In another, they could veer toward a strong military leader. Sometimes voters want reassurance. Sometimes they want change. And every so often the Electoral College takes the choice away from voters entirely.

In this engaging historical review, Chris Barsanti takes a thought-provoking look at ten notable presidential elections that were pivotal in determining the course of American history, including:

* The 1796 election of John Adams, which proved that a peaceful transfer of power was possible without a monarch.
* The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who ultimately liberated millions of slaves and ensured that the country would still extend south of the Mason-Dixon line. (Although sixteen years later, much of Lincoln’s work was undone by Rutherford B. Hayes.)
* The 1932 election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who pushed through an extraordinary amount of legislation, from new banking and stock market regulations to unemployment relief, that may have saved the country from collapse.
* The 2016 election of Donald Trump, who presented voters with maybe the starkest choice in American history.

These ten elections each represent not only large gambles by millions of people on the future of the republic, but also intense political combat over often radically divergent beliefs about how to keep America intact for the future.

Genres: History, Politics

224 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2020

About the author

Chris Barsanti grew up in the Midwest, where he spent far too much time with his nose buried in a book. These days he continues that bad habit as an author and freelance critic.

Currently a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Online Film Critics Society, Chris covers books, movies, and other cultural ephemera for Publishers Weekly, Film Journal International , The Playlist , PopMatters , and The Millions .

His writing has also been published everywhere from The Chicago Tribune to The Virginia Quarterly Review and The Barnes & Noble Review.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ballot Box is a snapshot of ten of America’s presidential elections, the main nominees in each, and their impact on history. A bit arbitrary, perhaps, but the choices serve to give a general feel of the importance of each and every Federal election.

The author’s political persuasion seems evident, though not to the extent other reviewers seem to believe. Some of the facts are a bit dubious, but acceptable enough for a pocket-sized conversation piece.

The hypothetical scenarios at the end of each chapter are intelligent without being overly fictional. Many of the presidents without their own chapter make appearances in the lead-up to the next featured election.

Overall, a fun road trip through American history, and some reassurance that there is little that we haven’t seen before. Any who thinks the 2020 election was the most chaotic ever should take a look at 1876, which is either a very close second or a very close first.

[Peter Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

was trending 4 star until the last few chapters when the author's blatant bias and lack of objectivity started coming through

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had some good information. It is arranged around key elections, however it lists previous events leading up to those elections including previous elections in a leadup section. It lists the candidates and their backgrounds. It lists the election itself, and the aftermath. It then lists a speculative section of what might have happened had someone else won. This is the format in every chapter.

Even as someone who has studied American History a lot there were a few things I learned. For instance, the practice of "cooping" a voter fraud strategy that involved getting someone drunk to vote certain ways multiple times. That was also a theory about how Edgar Allan Poe died (and as a fan of Poe that is doubly surprising I hadn't heard it before).

Through the first half or so he gives fairly straightforward interpretation of historic events with a bit of bias cropping up here and there, but a minimal amount is to be expected. However his bias started to become quite apparent once he got to the 20th century presidents.
It started to really get bad in his chapter on the election of 1932. He talks about Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover were a return to 19th century thinking (that's fair enough) He goes on the criticizes them for not doing more against prohibition or stock market. Even claiming they stood by as prohibition gangs "shot each other up in the street". What exactly did he want them to do, send in the national guard? Ending prohibition required a constitutional amendment so Coolidge had his hands tied. He claims Harding looked the other way with corruption (while there is a certain amount of truth to that, the bulk of the corruption was hidden from him and when he found out he was furious, but died soon after. However he could be blamed for not keeping a closer eye on his friends). He goes on to make a claim that is common but false if you look into it, That is that Hoover kept government out of economy after the crash. He employed interventions that FDR would be inspired by. Only stepping back late in his term. He sort of admits this later when he points out that one of FDR's campaign talking points was how Hoover would over regulate everything and went to do that very thing himself. He then implies the only ones opposed to new deal were reactionary fascists.(The Truth is even Supreme court opposed much of it, but the author gives no mention of this).

He has lot's of criticism (some deserved) and very little praise for Reagan, and claiming he engaged in contradictions that would ruin others (raising taxes to fund Medicare). Blames Americans for not wanting the truth in 1984. The most hilarious claim in the whole book[Reagan's scandals] showed how anti-regulatory fervor can lead to lax ethical standards" (no explanation for the supposed connection and I could even make the opposite claim by referencing say LBJ). Indirectly implies credit was not due to Reagan on the falling of Berlin wall claiming Republicans "took credit" for it) As if Reagan had nothing to do with it. It seems like he can't bring himself to give Reagan credit for a single thing.

On the war on terror cites Hunter S. Thompson "We will stay at war with that mysterious enemy for the rest of our lives". That is very appropriate and seems to be very true.

In the 2016 election, He claims Hillary Clinton was victim of "smear campaign", saying it was because people didn't trust a woman (In reality there were a number of non-gender based reasons people didn't trust her). He says Donald Trump announced his "conspiratorial" intentions out in the open (author previously brought up Clinton's "vast right wing conspiracy" claim but never criticizes her for it).

The last section lists the history of the major political parties. However, it lists Democrats as starting in 1792, implying they are just a renaming of Democratic-Republican, but this is not entirely true as the shakeup of the mid 1820s made new parties. Description of the history of the rest of the major parties is more or less true (perhaps underplaying the extent of the splintering of the Whigs by 1860).

If it weren't for the blatant bias, this book would be very useful, and is nonetheless informative.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Ballot Box” is a must-read for any student or enthusiast of U.S. history/the presidency, but also very informative for anyone hoping to learn something new. Barsanti picks his ten pivotal elections, but also fills in the gaps between each. Instead of what could have been a disjointed history lesson, he essentially explains the American democratic experiment in whole.

This book was well-sourced, factually correct, and historically accurate - exactly what you would want from an excellent and engaging read. It’s pretty clear throughout the book that Barsanti’s motivation is to enlighten the reader about the fragility of not just American democracy, but the country as a whole. One or two elections going a different way, in his opinion (and likely any reasonable person’s), would have drastically changed the nation we see today.

Beware, there were a handful of high-level vocabulary words I had to look up. The book is pretty well-written for the average reader, except for those scholarly words. Have your dictionary ready.

For what it’s worth, anybody complaining about “bias toward the end of the book” evidently cannot accept certain uncomfortable truths regarding the likes of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. Barsanti was pretty forthright about how they’ve affected the country.

[Ricky Callahan Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the book was quite interesting and held my attention. Reading about the more historical elections and the climate around them was quite fascinating. However, the author is, in my opinion, left leaning and the bias begins to show starting with the discussion of Hoover/Roosevelt. Of course there’s nothing wrong with being biased, however, if you’re looking for a truly objective look at modern 20th and 21st century elections in America, this is not the book for that.

[Anthony Piro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have had more stars but as the book got into more recent elections there was blatant bias and the pushing of an agenda.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book surveys most of the US Presidential elections, focusing on the most disputed and most impelling, with consequent achievements of those elected. The book adds more good information and interest by theorizing what might have happened had any of these elections swung in a different direction, and by adding informative sidebars detailing one aspect of each of these elections. Each account is succinct and the information well expressed, ensuring the book to be an engaging read.

[Travis Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which examined 10 presidential elections that drastically changed our country. I learned some unique facts about some rather obscure candidates and appreciate the speculation of "what if" a certain candidate had lost and his opponent had won. For a book on politics and history, it is a light, entertaining read.

[Daniel McCrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall informative and a good quick read. While I enjoyed the authors narrative, it was clearly, especially towards the end, subjective writing. However, there is a lot of information that is squeezed in pretty short chapters so pictures are painted with a rather large brush.

[Tyler Obenauf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably around 3.5 stars. A good collection of the information surrounding different elections, but not much in-depth discussion surrounding the elections, but given the nature of the book, that wasn’t rally expected.

[Karl H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. For political history buff.

[Lost Owl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not well done; biased, of course, but worse, written in a breezy, chatty style that misses the mark.

[Chris Leird · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was informational!

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Quick read and interesting but very heavily one sided especially in the later chapters

[Marcus Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick but insightful look at the history of a few of the country’s most pivotal and consequential presidential elections. Good starting point for researching more in depth about American political history.