Back to Basics for the Republican Party by Michael Z...

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The author brings to life the personalities, both old and modern, who shaped the Republican Party. Both history book and political essay, "Back to Basics for the Republican Party" weaves together an impressive amount of facts and anecdotes that will make you think about Republican ideals in new and interesting ways. It is a well-written, lively, and lucid contribution that will be of interest to anyone who wants to better understand the Republican Party and its roots. The book is also peppered with witticisms and "zingers" that will make you cheer or shake your head depending on where you stand.     As the two major American political parties seek to define themselves going into the twenty-first century, it is inevitable that they will look to the past to find what it is that sets them apart from each other. Back to Basics is an important book, not only because it seeks to tie the Republicans to their roots as the Party of Lincoln, but also because it establishes an important link to the much-maligned and misunderstood Radical Republicans.

For too long, the history of the Civil War and of Reconstruction has been written by those more sympathetic to the Confederacy and to Andrew Johnson than to the Republican Party that freed the slaves and established an era of racial equality in the South that would not be matched for a century.

If I have a complaint about the book it is that Michael Zak does not give the second Republican President, Ulysses S. Grant, enough credit. More than any other American President, it was Grant who worked to establish and preserve civil rights for the newly freed slaves. It was Grant who established international arbitration as an alternative to war with the Treaty of Washington. It was Grant who vetoed the 1874 inflation bill and made the Republicans the party of hard money. And it was Grant who warned against allowing religious institutions to co-opt the fledgling systems of universal public education. The illegal acts uncovered in the Credit Mobilier scandal, mentioned by Mr. Zak, actually occurred in 1867-68 under the Democratic Administration that preceded Grant and were uncovered under Grant's Administration.

But this is a quibble. If you are a Republican, or are interested in the Republican Party, buy this book. In fact, this book should be mandatory reading for Republican activists. Agree or disagree with his interpretations, and I largely agree with them, Mr. Zak's writing style is concise and compelling, and his history of the Republican Party is unmatched.