Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Mayhew, "The Imprint of Congress"

Our recent post on Chafetz's Congress's Constitution reminded us that we missed this new release from earlier this year, also from Yale University Press: The Imprint of Congress (2017), by David Mayhew (Yale University). A description from the Press:
What kind of job has America's routinely disparaged legislative body actually done?  In The Imprint of Congress, the distinguished congressional scholar David R. Mayhew gives us an insightful historical analysis of the U.S. Congress’s performance from the late eighteenth century to today, exploring what its lasting imprint has been on American politics and society.  Mayhew suggests that Congress has balanced the presidency in a surprising variety of ways, and in doing so, it has contributed to the legitimacy of a governing system faced by an often fractious public.
A few blurbs:
“An excellent book. Mayhew offers a unique perspective on a critical issue for evaluating the American constitutional system.”—Eric Schickler
“The scope of David Mayhew’s Imprint of Congress alone is simply breathtaking, but the economy of style makes the achievement even more impressive. The end result promises to become an essential ‘vest-pocket’ handbook for anyone interested in American political and policy history—or the nation’s future."—Richard Bensel
More information is available here.