Self-Rule: A Cultural History of American Democracy. (book reviews)

Erwin C Hargrove, Vanderbilt University

Robert Wiebe is an historian who thinks and writes like a social scientist and who comfortably uses social science research. if it were not that as an historian he can fashion a larger tapestry than greatest in number social scientists, who go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of particular strands. This is a distinct advantage in a work that asks about the nature of democracy in America and to what extent it has changed athwart time.

Wiebe defines democracy as self-restraint by citizens, albeit by the and of elected representatives, but with a high premium onward popular participation in politics, governmental