Introduction

Contemporary political campaigns are multi-million dollar affairs in which candidates amass small armies of volunteers and workers to engage in combat with their opponents. And like any war, there are skirmishes, casualties, and, of course, objections.

Campaigns have come under fire in recent years for everything from finances and data-mining practices, to attack ads and even their choice of music at rallies, so it will come as no surprise that political scientists have also been studying the nuts and bolts of political campaigning.

Whether we look to ancient advice in the form of a letter on How to Win an Election from Quintus Tullius Cicero to his brother Marcus Cicero or to a contemporary discussion of economic messaging in political campaigns like that found in Lynn Vavreck’s The Message Matters, the books listed below offer invaluable insight into the nuts and bolts of political campaigns.

–Chuck Myers, group publisher in social sciences and editor in political science

Exclusive Excerpt

Click here to download an article on the history of Campaign Consultants in American politics

Excerpted from The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History.

Featured Book

How to Win an Election
An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians
Quintus Tullius Cicero Translated and with an introduction by Philip Freeman

Skip to the complete
reading list