Description
Newt Gingrich is one of the most polarizing and consequential figures in US politics. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1978, he rose from a minority party backbencher to become the first Republican Speaker of the House in forty years. Though much has been written about Gingrich, accounts of his time in Congress are incomplete and often skewed.
In their book
Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur, political scientists Matthew N. Green and Jeffrey Crouch draw from newly uncovered archival material, original interviews, and other data to provide a fresh and insightful look at Gingrich's entire congressional career. Green and Crouch argue that Gingrich is best understood as a "party entrepreneur," someone who works primarily to achieve their congressional party's collective goals. From the moment he entered Congress, Gingrich was laser-focused on achieving two party-related objectives--a Republican majority in the House and a more conservative society--as well as greater influence for himself.
Using a conceptual framework taken from theories of military strategy, the authors explain how Gingrich initially struggled because of a mismatch between his lofty goals and the resources available to him. After years of patiently cultivating allies, tempering his immediate objectives, and waiting for favorable circumstances to emerge, Gingrich finally claimed victory in 1994, with Republicans winning control of the House and electing Gingrich as Speaker. Yet while Gingrich had been creative, patient, and ultimately successful at gaining power for himself and his party, he proved ineffective at balancing his goals with the demands of the Speakership, and he resigned from Congress just four years later.
Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur, the latest contribution to the Congressional Leaders series, sheds new light on a historically important congressional leader whose complicated legacy is still debated today by scholars, journalists, and politicians.
Reviews
"Green and Crouch use the analytical tools of political science to understand one of the most controversial--and increasingly representative--party entrepreneurs of modern times, Newt Gingrich. A thoughtful account of the former Speaker of the House."--
Julian E. Zelizer, professor of political history, Princeton University, and author of
Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party "Green and Crouch have produced a superb account of Newt Gingrich's political career. With deep research, crisp writing, and fair-minded analysis, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand American political parties and congressional leadership."--John J. Pitney Jr., author of After Reagan: Bush, Dukakis, and the 1988 Election
"Matthew N. Green and Jeffrey Crouch's thoroughly researched, regularly insightful, and highly informative book will likely become, as it should, the definitive assessment of Newt Gingrich's time in Congress. His role in seizing and using then-emerging trends in partisanship and polarization continues in Congress today and shapes American politics more broadly. Green and Crouch's careful extension of the legislative entrepreneurship model to the partisan arena is well-considered and highly explanatory in contextualizing and explaining the former Speaker's career in the House."--Douglas Koopman, Calvin University
"This excellent book unpacks Newt Gingrich as a politician and strategist and is an important contribution to the literature on congressional leadership. Highly recommended."--Choice
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