Shorter Notices
The American Political System. By D. 'X . Brogan. (Hamish Hamilton. 18s.)
CLASSIC as Bryce's American Commonwealth is, it cannot by the nature of things hold the whole field indefinitely, and the reception given to Professor Brogan's American Political System when it first appeared ten years ago showed how generally the need for an instructed discussion of more recent political developments in the United States was recognised. The new edition contains a neW preface of twenty-four pages pregnant with wisdom. The English- man who has striven :n vain to grasp the fundamental difference between the Republican and Democratic parties will hail with relief Mr. Brogan's convincing demonstration that there is, in fact, no fundamental difference ; but, with an election due next year, he will note the significance of such a statement as that the Democrats' main gains have been in the industrial areas and in the younger age- groups, and that "the Democratic Party, that seemed dead or barely living over a great area, is now alive and formidable over nearly every part of the United States today." The one criticism to make of Professor Brogan is that, through unconsciousness of his own omniscience, he writes too allusively for the common man. The President, he suggests, for example, has to know which way the tide of public opinion is running, "whether it is the normally languid movement of Florida waters or the gigantic, racing bore that sweeps into Passamaquoddy Bay or round Campobello Island." The President may indeed succeed in knowing, but it is rather much to ask of the British public.
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