Chris Stirewalt

This is a wonderfully readable history of the key populists in American history. The big promises a short history and delivers exactly that. By providing short descriptions, it helps the reader understand each of the populists better than much longer descriptions. For example, I found the explanations of William Jennings Bryan and Huey Long better than anything I had read previously.

The book is worth reading today since it shows how much Trump has in common with earlier populists. In fact, Trump often seems to be just an echo of Pat Buchannan and Ross Perot.… (more)