Bibliography of the history of the Republican Party

These are the references for further information regarding the history of the Republican Party in the U.S. since 1854.

Secondary sources

Surveys American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries and at Wikipedia Library. Burnham, Walter Dean. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. (1970) Barone, Michael. The Almanac of American Politics 2020: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2019); revised every two years since 1975. Dinkin, Robert J. Voting and Vote-Getting in American History (2016), expanded edition of Dinkin, Campaigning in America: A History of Election Practices. (Greenwood 1989) online 1989 edition Gould, Lewis L. The Republicans : A History of the Grand Old Party (2nd ed, 2014); First edition 2003 was entitled: Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans online 2nd edition, the best overview. , very well written scholarly work Kleppner, Paul, et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), applies party systems model Mason, Robert. The Republican Party and American Politics from Hoover to Reagan (2011) excerpt and text search Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854–1966. 2d ed. (1967), narrative. Prentice, David L. "The Republican Party and US Foreign Relations" (2019) Oxford Research Encyclopedias Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996), popular , long essays by specialists on each time period: includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2011 with Gil troy as coeditor). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972) online editions of multivolume set

1854–1900 Calhoun, Charles W. From Bloody Shirt to Full Dinner Pail: The Transformation of Politics and Governance in the Gilded Age (2011) excerpt and text search Dearing, Mary. Veterans in Politics: The Story of the GAR (1952) DeSantis, Vincent P. Republicans Face the Southern Question: The New Departure Years, 1877–1897 (1959) Donald, David. Lincoln (1999) Edwards, Rebecca. Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era (1997) Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970), history of ideas and ideology Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852–1856 (1987), quantitative voting studies, by state Gienapp, William E. "Nativism and the Creation of a Republican Majority in the North Before the Civil War", Journal of American History 72 (Dec. 1985): 529–59 in JSTOR Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant: Politician (1935) Holt, Michael F. "Review: The New Political History and the Civil War Era," Reviews in American History Vol. 13, No. 1 (Mar., 1985), pp. 60–69 in JSTOR Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President (1995). Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896 (1971) Jordan, David. Roscoe Conkling of New York: Voice in the Senate (1971). Kehl, James A. Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania (1981) Keller, Morton. Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America (1977). details on the rules of the game in politics Kleppner, Paul. The Third Electoral System 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. McKinney, Gordon B. Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865–1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community 1978. Marcus, Robert. Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880–1896 1971. Morgan, H. Wayne. From Hayes to McKinley; National Party Politics, 1877–1896 (1969) Morgan, H. Wayne. William McKinley and His America 1963. Muzzey, David Saville. James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days 1934. Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union 8 vol (1947–77); highly detailed narrative of national politics and Civil War, 184865, by leading scholar Oakes, James. The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution (W.W. Norton, 2021). Oakes, James. Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865 (W. W. Norton, 2012) Paludin, Philip. A People's Contest: The Union and the Civil War, 1861–1865 1988. Polakoff, Keith Ian. The Politics of Inertia: The Election of 1876 and the End of Reconstruction 1973. Rhodes, James Ford. The History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 8 vol (1932), narrative, 18501909 Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War (1997) Robinson, William A. Thomas B. Reed, Parliamentarian 1930. Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838–1893 (1991) Shepard, Christopher. The Civil War Income Tax and the Republican Party, 1861–1872 (2010) Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 (2000) Van Deusen, Glyndon G. Horace Greeley, Nineteenth-Century Crusader (1953) Welch, Richard E. George Frisbie Hoar and the Half Breed Republicans 1971. Williams, R. Hal. Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s. 1978.

1900–1932

Brands, H.W. Theodore Roosevelt (2001), full biography Brown, David S. In the Arena: Theodore Roosevelt in War, Peace, and Revolution (Simon and Schuster, 2025).

Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979). Chace, James. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs – The Election That Changed the Country. (2004). 323 pp. Coletta, Paolo Enrico. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973), standard survey Garraty, John. Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography 1953 Gosnell, Harold F. Boss Platt and His New York Machine: A Study of the Political Leadership of Thomas C. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Others (1924) Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. (2nd ed. 2011) Gould, Lewis L. The William Howard Taft Presidency (2009) Gould, Lewis L. Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of Modern American Politics (2008) Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963), full scholarly biography Hechler, Kenneth S. Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft Era (1940) Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (1979). quantitative study of voters Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, to 1901 (1979); vol 2: Theodore Rex covers 1901909. (2001); Colonel Roosevelt (2010), after 1909. Pulitzer prize biography. Mowry, George. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900–1912. (1954) general survey of era; online Miller; Karen A. J. Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1911–1925. Greenwood Press, 1999 McCoy, Donald, Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President (1967), Mowry, George E. Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement. (2001) focus on 1912.\ O’Brien, Phillips Payson, “Herbert Hoover, Anglo-American Relations, and Republican Party Politics in the 1920s,” Diplomacy and Statecraft, 22 (no. 2, 2011), 200–218. Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. 2 vol (1939); Pulitzer prize; the standard biography Pringle, Henry F. Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography (1931) Sherman, Richard B. The Republican Party and Black America from McKinley to Hoover 1973. Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography. David Thelen, Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit 1976. short interpretive biography Nancy C. Unger. Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer (2000), full scale biography

1932–1980 Bowen, Michael. The Roots of Modern Conservatism: Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party (2011) Brennan, Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP (1995), 1960s Broussard, James H. The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order (2020). Cunningham, Sean P. Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right (2010) Dueck, Colin. Hard Line: The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II (2010) Dallek, Matthew. The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics. (2004). Study of 1966 election as governor.

Greenberg, David. Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image (2003). Important study of how Nixon was perceived by media and scholars.

, the major scholarly study Jensen, Richard. "The Last Party System, 1932–1980," in Paul Kleppner, ed. Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1981) Ladd Jr., Everett Carll with Charles D. Hadley. Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s 2d ed. (1978). Mason, Robert. Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority (2004). 289 pp. Morris, Roger. Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician (1990). Pach, Chester J. and Elmo Richardson. Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1991). Standard scholarly survey. Parmet, Herbert S. Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972) Parmet, Herbert S. Richard Nixon and His America (1990). Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft (1972) Patterson, James. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933–39 (1967) Perlstein, Rick. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2002) well written, broad account of 1964 Perlstein, Rick. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008) covers late 1960s Persico, Joseph E. The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1982 (The author was a senior aide). Reich, Cary. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908–1958, 1996. Reichley, James; Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations, Brookings Institution, 1981. Reinhard, David W. The Republican Right since 1945 (1983) Rosen, Elliot A. The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States (U. of Virginia Press, 2014) excerpt and text search Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983) Smith, Richard Norton. Thomas E. Dewey and His Times. (1982) Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983) White, Theodore. The Making of the President: 1960 (1961); The Making of the President: 1964 (1965); The Making of the President 1968 (1969) classic narratives

1980–2016 The Almanac of American Politics (2022) details on members of Congress, and the governors: their records and election results; also state and district politics; revised every two years since 1975. details