| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Trionfo e declino dei partiti politici negli Stati Uniti, 1860–1930 (Triumph and decline of political parties in the United States, 1860–1930). By Arnaldo Testi. (Turin: Otto, 2000. 208 pp. Paper, Lit 35,000, ISBN 88-87503-05-2.) In Italian.

This assessment of the rise and decline of mass political parties in the United States is a compilation of articles by Arnaldo Testi published previously in both Italian and English. Here, Testi revisits his previous work to three ends: to sustain that mass political parties were and still are necessary to promote democratic political participation for all citizens; to argue that the decline of such in the United States earlier in the twentieth century was the first episode of a crisis of mass political parties in the West; and to reject the premise of American "exceptionalism"—especially to make irrelevant the question "why no socialism in the United States?" For this last point, he suggests that the American exception has become the Western norm and that acknowledging the similarities between U.S. and European democratic experiences can preview the possible fate of contemporary western European political parties. . . .

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