This up-to-date and accessible volume connects the histories of some of America's most noteworthy political families to important themes in American political development. Its detailed case studies of dynasties at the national, state, and local levels offer a unique lens for viewing the political history of the United States.

Daniel M. Smith, Harvard University, USA

With populism and extremism challenging democracy worldwide, this timely edited volume takes a different and illuminating path by exploring the paradoxical role and life cycle of family dynasties in a political system that elevates the individual, and today, the outsider. By a systematic and detailed examination of national, state, regional, and local dynasties the authors have linked history and political science (as well as the psychology of family dynamics) to demonstrate how families accrue wealth, recognition, and unity to gain and wield power and to both shape and adapt to changing political settings. This important and readable work should be required reading in undergraduate and graduate courses and should also generate international comparative studies of family dynasties in both democratic and non-democratic systems.

Raphael J. Sonenshein, Executive Director, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, California State University, Los Angeles, USA