Surveys

• American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
• Burnham, Walter Dean, ed. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York, 1970.
• Gould, Lewis. Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans (2003), the best overview.
• Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983 (1983), very well written scholarly work
• Kleppner, Paul, et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), applies party systems model
• Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854-1966. 2d ed. (1967), narrative.
• Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996), popular
• Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period:
  • includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
• Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2011 with Gil troy as coeditor). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)

1854 to 1900

• Calhoun, Charles W. From Bloody Shirt to Full Dinner Pail: The Transformation of Politics and Governance in the Gilded Age (2011) excerpt and text search
• Dearing, Mary. Veterans in Politics: The Story of the GAR (1952)
• DeSantis, Vincent P. Republicans Face the Southern Question: The New Departure Years, 1877-1897 (1959)
• Donald, David. Lincoln (1999)
• Edwards, Rebecca. Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era (1997)
• Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970), history of ideas and ideology
• Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (1987), quantitative voting studies, by state
• Gienapp, William E. "Nativism and the Creation of a Republican Majority in the North Before the Civil War", Journal of American History 72 (Dec. 1985): 529-59 in JSTOR
• Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant: Politician (1935)
• Holt, Michael F. "Review: The New Political History and the Civil War Era," Reviews in American History Vol. 13, No. 1 (Mar., 1985), pp. 60-69 in JSTOR
• Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President (1995).
• Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (1971)
• Jordan, David. Roscoe Conkling of New York: Voice in the Senate (1971).
• Kehl, James A. Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania (1981)
• Keller, Morton. Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America (1977). details on the rules of the game in politics
• Kleppner, Paul. The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class.
• McKinney, Gordon B. Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865-1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community 1978.
• Marcus, Robert. Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880-1896 1971.
• Morgan, H. Wayne. From Hayes to McKinley; National Party Politics, 1877-1896 (1969)
• Morgan, H. Wayne. William McKinley and His America 1963.
• Muzzey, David Saville. James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days 1934.
• Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union 8 vol (1947–77); highly detailed narrative of national politics and Civil War, 1848–65, by leading scholar
• Paludin, Philip. A People's Contest: The Union and the Civil War, 1861-1865 1988.
• Polakoff, Keith Ian. The Politics of Inertia: The Election of 1876 and the End of Reconstruction 1973.
• Rhodes, James Ford. The History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 8 vol (1932), narrative, 1850–1909
• Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War (1997)
• Robinson, William A. Thomas B. Reed, Parliamentarian 1930.
• Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838-1893 (1991)
• Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 (2000)
• Van Deusen, Glyndon G. Horace Greeley, Nineteenth-Century Crusader (1953)
• Welch, Richard E. George Frisbie Hoar and the Half Breed Republicans 1971.
• Williams, R. Hal. Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s. 1978.

1900-1932

• Blum, John Morton The Republican Roosevelt. (1954). essays that examine how TR did politics
• Brands, H.W. Theodore Roosevelt (2001), full biography
• Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979).
• Chace, James. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs - The Election That Changed the Country. (2004). 323 pp.
• Coletta, Paolo Enrico. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973), standard survey
• Garraty, John. Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography 1953
• Gosnell, Harold F
  Harold Foote Gosnell
  Harold Foote Gosnell was an American political scientist and author, known for his research and writings on American politics, elections, and political parties in political science....
  
  . Boss Platt and His New York Machine: A Study of the Political Leadership of Thomas C. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Others (1924)
• Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. (2nd ed. 2011)
• Gould, Lewis L. The William Howard Taft Presidency (2009)
• Gould, Lewis L. Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of Modern American Politics (2008)
• Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963), full scholarly biography
• Hechler, Kenneth S. Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft Era (1940)
• Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (1979). quantitative study of voters
• Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, to 1901 (1979); vol 2: Theodore Rex covers 1901-1909. (2001); Colonel Roosevelt (2010), after 1909. Pulitzer prize biography.
• Mowry, George. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912. (1954) general survey of era; online
• Miller; Karen A. J. Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918-1925. Greenwood Press, 1999
• McCoy, Donald, Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President (1967),
• Mowry, George E. Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement. (2001) focus on 1912
• Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. 2 vol (1939); Pulitzer prize; the standard biography
• Pringle, Henry F. Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography (1931)
• Sherman, Richard B. The Republican Party and Black America from McKinley to Hoover 1973.
• Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
• David Thelen, Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit 1976. short interpretive biography
• Nancy C. Unger. Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer (2000), full scale biography

1932 to 1980

• Bowen, Michael. The Roots of Modern Conservatism: Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party (2011)
• Brennan, Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP (1995), 1960s
• Dueck, Colin. Hard Line: The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II (2010)
• Dallek, Matthew. The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics. (2004). Study of 1966 election as governor.
• Greenberg, David. Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image (2003). Important study of how Nixon was perceived by media and scholars., the major scholarly study
• Jensen, Richard. "The Last Party System, 1932-1980," in Paul Kleppner, ed. Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1981)
• Ladd Jr., Everett Carll with Charles D. Hadley. Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s 2d ed. (1978).
• Mason, Robert. Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority (2004). 289 pp.
• Morris, Roger. Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician (1990).
• Pach, Chester J. and Elmo Richardson. Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1991). Standard scholarly survey.
• Parmet, Herbert S. Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972)
• Parmet, Herbert S. Richard Nixon and His America (1990).
• Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft (1972)
• Patterson, James. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933-39 (1967)
• Perlstein, Rick. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2002) well written, broad account of 1964
• Perlstein, Rick. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008) covers late 1960s
• Persico, Joseph E. The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1982 (The author was a senior aide).
• Reich, Cary. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908–1958, 1996.
• Reichley, James; Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations, Brookings Institution, 1981.
• Reinhard, David W. The Republican Right since 1945 (1983)
• Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
• Smith, Richard Norton. Thomas E. Dewey and His Times. (1982)
• Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983)
• White, Theodore. The Making of the President: 1960 (1961); The Making of the President: 1964 (1965); The Making of the President 1968 (1969) classic narratives

1980 - Present

• Barone, Michael. The Almanac of American Politics 2012: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2011) covers all the live politicians with elaborate detail; this series has appeared every two years since 1975
• Aberbach, Joel D., and Gillian Peele, eds. Crisis of Conservatism?: The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics After Bush (2011) excerpt and text search
• Aistrup, Joseph A. The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South (1996)
• Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002)
• Ehrman, John, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2005)
• Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005), criticism from the left
• Frum, David. What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America (1996)
• Germond, Jack W. and Jules Witcover. Blue Smoke & Mirrors: How Reagan Won & Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980. 1981. Detailed journalism.
• Green, John Robert. The Presidency of George Bush. (2000).
• Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
• Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
• Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) biography by historian
• Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by historian
• Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
• Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001).
• Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. The End of Southern Exceptionalism (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change
• Mel Steely. The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-671-1.
• Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004).

Primary sources

• Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds. Public Opinion, 1935-1946 (1951), huge compilation of public opinion polls from the United States and elsewhere. online version
• Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes brief history and selection of primary documents.
• The national committees of major parties published a "campaign textbook" every presidential election from about 1856 to about 1932. They were designed for speakers and are jammed with statistics, speeches, summaries of legislation, and documents, with plenty of argumentation. Only large academic libraries have them, but some are online.
  • Democratic National Committee. The Campaign Text Book: Why the People Want a Change. The Republican Party Reviewed... (1876)
  • Campaign Text-book of the National Democratic Party (1896) by Democratic Party (U.S.) National committee this is the Gold Democrats handbook; it strongly opposed Bryan
  • The Republican Campaign Text Book for 1882 by Republican Congressional Committee
  • The Republican Campaign Text Book for 1884
  • The Republican Campaign Text-book for 1888
  • Republican Campaign Text Book, 1894

See also