More Praise

"Lara Brown links candidate opportunism to political experience, electoral success, partisan change, and institutional development.  Admirably, she also seeks to contextualize opportunistic behavior - to be sensitive to history, norms, and contingent events.  This is at bottom a study about candidate qualities - human nature, political character, the appetite for power - and the conquences of these for the successful pursuit of the presidential office.  This, I believe, constitutes the core of the study and its greatest strength.  In fact, in some ways this book is one of a small handful of works in recent memory to take very seriously the political and institutional implications of human nature - ambition, self-interest, opportunism - since the Federalist Papers."

- Scott C. James, UCLA

"Lara Brown sheds new light on presidential politics in her analysis of presidential aspirants.  She argues that instead of being shaped by political party and external events, successful nominees actively shape their political parties and create their own political circumstances.  Her richly detailed portraits of both winners and losers throughout American history undergird her theoretical contributions.  Anyone interested in presidential elections will benefit greatly from reading this book."

- James P. Pfiffner, George Mason University

"This book will compel scholars to take a new look at the role of 'political opportunism' in the presidential selection process.  Lara Brown provides a fresh, innovative exploration of the roots of opportunism, one that challenges conventional wisdom as it advances our understanding of this complex topic."

- Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount University