Politics, parties and pressure groups

If he has a decent respect for the opinions of his professional colleagues, the author of a fourth edition of a textbook should be able to set out persuasive justifications for the new version. Let it be remarked, then, that this is not a routine revision in extent sufficient only to make obsolete the stocks of the earlier edition in the hands of the second-hand book dealers. Although its broad structure remains about the same, the work has been almost completely rewritten. A principal purpose of the revision has been to take into account the findings of recent research on American politics. Perhaps in no field of American political science in recent years has the research output been either, so voluminous or so impressive as in the area of political parties and politics generally,

The author of a textbook, or so it seems to me, has an obligation to do more than simply to summarize and synthesize the findings of his colleagues who have industriously explored aspects of the field. He should also himself contribute something to the common store of knowl ege. That obligation, it is hoped, has received at least a minimum fulfill ment by the pieces of original inquiry reported at various points in the book. The revision has also provided an opportunity to set some secte of the data of American politics into new interpretative frames, whi may add new meaning to old data.