The Poverty of American Politics: A Theoretical Interpretation. (book reviews)

Reading these two fine books gives tremendous stimulation to one's thinking about the ideas that underlie American politics. They are starkly different in tone. Where Wills is powerfully celebratory, Roelofs is severe and relentlessly pessimistic. It is striking that this should be so, for both authors seem to value the same things: benevolent community over acquisitive individualism, and Biblical traditions over the myth of the social contract.

Wills' book is a tour de force of scholarship, sharply focused on a single event. Placing the Gettysburg Address in the tradition of ...

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