On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, millions of Americans will head to the polls to elect the next President—no small undertaking and a very important civic duty to fulfill.  

Whether this is the first time you’ll cast your ballot, or this Presidential election has piqued your interest, or you want to understand the political process and gain some historical context to inform your decision, The New York Public Library has a robust collection of books, feature films, documentaries, music and spoken arts just for you!

Photo credit: Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Scene at the polls, New York City. Boxes for the distribution of tickets. Everybody busy."The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1856-11-15. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-cd10-a3d9-e040-e00a180...

Visit the Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection, and explore an "unparalleled visual resource for creative people in any medium."

Come browse our selection of items available at Mid-Manhattan Library, or request  your copy by clicking on the book jacket which will link you to the Library's Catalog. 

BOOKS

The Virgin Vote: How Young Americans Made Democracy Social, Politics Personal, and Voting Popular in the Nineteenth Century by Jon Grinspan. 2016. 

Looks at youth participation in politics from the 1840s to 1900, which was fueled by an unlikely alliance between first-time voters and partisan party bosses, a political connection which quickly faded at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy by Darryl Pinckney. 2014.

Describes how black voters overcame centuries of bigotry to secure and preserve one of their most important rights as American citizens.

Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (And What We Can Do About It) by William Poundstone. 2008.

A critical assessment of the fundamental flaws in the American electoral system, looking at how a minor "spoiler" candidate can affect the election. 

Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns, and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman  by Jessie Kratz and Martha Grove. 2008.

Clifford Berryman was a Pulitzer winner and staff political cartoonist for the  Washington Post and the Washington Evening Star for the first half of the twentieth century. He drew thousands of cartoons commenting on the candidates, campaigns and elections, both presidential and congressional, of his era.

Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression by Spencer Overton. 2006.

BOOKS

Deliver the Vote: A History of Election  Fraud, an American Political Tradition, 1742-2004 by Tracy Campbell. 2005.

A history of election fraud in the United States exposes the ways in which political culture is diminished by election corruption, citing such practices of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and returns manipulation while explaining how election reform practices have only changed the methods through which corruption occurs.

 

The Big Vote: Gender, Consumer Culture, and the Politics of Exclusion, 1890s-1920s by Liette Gidlow. 2004.

A close look at the national "Get-Out-the-Vote" campaigns and at the internal dynamics of campaigns in the case-study cities of New York, New York, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Birmingham, Alabama.

The Vanishing Voter:Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty by Thomas E. Patterson. 2002.

 

The disputed Presidential election of 2000 highlighted a range of flaws in the American voting system, from ballot procedures to alleged voter intimidation to questions about the fairness of the Electoral College.

 

The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in The United States by Alexander Keyssar. 2000.

 

Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. is, in fact, the story of a struggle to achieve this right by our society's marginalized groups.

 

The Myth of the Independent Voter by Bruce E. Keith. 1992.

 

In a careful academic review of data from studies at the University of Michigan, Keith, an independent scholar, and his colleagues demolish that myth. Most Independents, they emphasize, are actually closet Republicans or Democrats; only a few are "pure" Independents. 

 

DVDs and more!

The People Speak. Directed by Dan Abrams. 2010.

A look at social change throughout history, as seen through the music, poetry, speeches, and manifestos of rebels, dissenters, and visionaries from our past - and present. (DVD).

 

Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rghts in America by Ari Berman, 2015.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act comes this riveting and alarming account of the continuing battle over the right to vote. (Audiobook).

Being There. Directed by Hal Ashby. 2009. 

A simple, sheltered gardener becomes an unlikely trusted adviser to a powerful businessman and an insider in Washington politics. (DVD).

 

Gerrymandering. Directed by Jeff Reichert, 2012.

 

Gerrymandering exposes the most effective form of manipulating elections short of outright fraud. (DVD).

 

Black Power: Music of a Revolution. Shout Factory. 2004. 

 

The leaders of the black community in the late '60s, early '70s demanded change-and so did the artists. This 2-CD set is the first to unite the political and musical statements of that heated time. (CD).

 

Upcoming Events:

• The final Presidential Debate  will be streamed live on Wednesday, October 19, at 9 PM in Room 101.
• The Election Film Festival begins on Tuesday, November 1, at 2 PM.

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