The Facts on File web page for this volume summarizes the book as providing “comprehensive coverage of the American election process and its political parties”. This description captures both the positive, and unwittingly – and surly unintentionally – also the major drawback. That is to say, yes, this single volume encyclopaedia does cover the A‐Z entries as a basic reference guide. The unfortunate element is that in so doing the book also tends to short change many topics in order to fit all subjects into 548 pages. For example, a key element of the recent period of presidential elections has been the use of public opinion polls. The use of polls by candidates, political parties, members of Congress, and presidents is well documented in the scholarly and popular press. The Sabato/Ernst edited volume provides a half‐page entry written by Michael W. Wagner (Indiana University). Doubtless Wagner operated under a mandated word limit, but the coverage provided seems insufficient to address a key area of the American political landscape. The same can be said for the focus group entry by John Todd Young (Ball State University). Today's political operatives employ focus groups to address both substantive issues, as well as many less significant aspects of political life. A half page entry does not adequately highlight the significance of the use of this method, and the single Further Reading provided is from 1998, suggesting to the reader that no more recent appropriate reference is available. The Greenbaum title listed is excellent, but other more recent works should have been included.
Another example of where size limitations, but also conscious choices, have produced a less than complete picture is found in the manner in which Monica Lewinsky is treated as a subject entry in this encyclopaedia. For Americans, and in fact a world‐wide audience, the name Lewinsky will always be remembered and associated with the difficulties that her relationship with President Bill Clinton caused for the President, and the nature, and the achievements (and some suggest shortcomings of the second term of one of the most popular American presidents) of Clinton's second term in office. Given the degree to which the story was front page centre for a long time, it is somewhat baffling that there are only three references to Lewinsky, and these are each only one line of text in three separate entries under Democratic Party, Presidential Polls, and Scandal. Astonishingly, there is no subject entry in the index for Lewinsky associated with the entry for “Clinton, Bill” (one of the seven entries under “Scandals of” refers to the same page as one of the three separate entries for “Lewinsky, Monica”). There is a difference between intentionally downplaying a subject, and misleading the reader. In this case the judgement call seems to have strayed from the goal of a duly diligent representation of events from that highly charged period in American presidential election politics.
The front matter includes a list of entries and a contributors list. Unfortunately, the list provides only the academic affiliations but not the rank or position held by the individual. This is a common practice, but one which provides limited information – and one which could easily have been enhanced – and should be. The editors have compiled a volume that they believe is suitable for journalists, government officials, teachers, and students of politics. To some degree these are appropriate, but undergraduate students are the most likely users. Over 150 authors have contributed 450 plus entries. Individual entries for political figures have been excluded in the interest of saving space for other elements in the encyclopaedia. The back matter includes an 800 plus item bibliography and a 23 page subject index (entries receiving “extensive treatment” are in boldface font – a helpful approach).
Does the work achieve the stated goal of providing a “comprehensive and historical review of the subject”? The historical review element has certainly been achieved. Specific entries for “presidential election [year]” start with 1792 and continue through 2004, and there are many other appropriate historical references throughout. The encyclopaedia is comprehensive in the sense of having an entry for most of the important terms related to the subject areas covered. The challenge for a single volume is whether depth can really be sensibly met. A careful review of many entries suggests that the needs of early undergraduate students have been addressed. Juniors and seniors, graduate students, and professionals would be better advised to seek more in‐depth coverage elsewhere. Recommended for the students noted above, with the hope that the identified shortcomings will be corrected in any second edition.
