rileycran

This book is by far one of the worst histories I've read recently. This is the most recent study of the development of the party system in the early Republic, but it could just as easily have been written in the 1880s. Historians for the last thirty years have paid great attention to political culture and cultural ideologies; Sharp ignores that trend. Historians for the last eighty years have given attention to social division and contestation; Sharp ignores that as well. Sharp relies exclusively on elite political sources, focusing his narrative on the activities of Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton under the two Washington administrations and the Adams administration. The narrative pertains only to the political maneuvering of these men, and uses the most obvious reference points- the Jay Treaty, the Genet affair, the elections of 1792, 1796, and 1800. This book may be useful for looking up facts, but offers very little in the way of fresh insights or interesting interpretations.

2022-10-28 13:42