Customer Reviews

Others: Third-Party Politics From the Nation's Founding to the Rise and Fall of the Greenback-Labor Party

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As I find myself more and more dissatisfied with the two major political parties, I found myself increasingly interested and drawn to the unrepresented and often unheard voices of the political arena: the third parties of American politics.

It was from my own research (and my own curiosity) that led me to this book: Others by Darcy Richardson. The book is part of a planned four-volume series that looks at the role of third parties in American history. Richardson's research is outstanding and very detailed. He not only provides biographical thumbnail sketches of persons of interest to breathe life into these forgotten heroes of elections past, but illustrates how some of the early third-party movements routinely fielded tickets headed by men of stature and substance, including ex-governors, congressmen, diplomats, and even former Presidents (i.e., Free Soiler Martin Van Buren in 1848 and the Know-Nothing Party's Millard Fillmore in 1856). In this first volume, he thoroughly re-examines these parties and key players from our country's beginning to the mid 1880s, culminating in the demise of the Greenback-Labor Party.

Where I had already thought that I knew quite a bit about the early American parties (the Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, the Whigs, the Know Nothings, the Free Soilers), Richardson not only expands my existing knowledge but also introduces the forgotten parties of the earlier periods, including the Anti-Masonic Party (anti-secret society), the Liberty Party (anti-slavery), and the Prohibitionists (teetotalers). He clearly has his hand on the political pulse of early America and writes in a guiding narrative that leaves the impression that he himself was there at these pivotal points in American history; at the early political conventions with all their intrigue and deal making; reporting the newspaper headlines and pamphlets of the period; the behind-the-scenes politicking between the candidates, the party bosses and assorted movers-and-shakers. Unlike some in academia, Richardson makes no attempt to force his own interpretation of events on the reader, but merely reminds his audience of the impact third parties had on the nation's political development.

All in all, Richardson has written a wonderful book that is insightful, informative and a terrific read. He brings to light the lives and dreams of so many forward-thinking Americans who, for the most part, have been overlooked by other historians. I look forward to his subsequent volumes so that I can expand my knowledge on the third parties of the 20th century. I can see where this book will be a reference for anyone looking to examine the role third party politics have played, especially during some of the more volatile periods in our nation's history.