I can't remember when I started reading this book, but I think it took me at least 2 years to finish. I wanted to read it because it covers a period in American history, between the Founding Fathers and the Civil War, that is often overlooked and not well understood. At almost 1,000 pages though, this book goes into way more detail than an armchair historian like me is interested in. Not only does it cover major Congressional elections and Presidential candidates (stuff I like reading about), it goes into excruciating detail about every off-year election for every House and Senate seat and all the state legislatures in every single state. It's easy to get lost in all the names after a while and it's easy to lose track of some of the overall themes because you're buried in minutiae. I have no doubt that this may be the most authoritative and well-researched book about the Whig party ever written, but for me, a Cliff Notes version of the book would have been more in my wheelhouse.

I'm going to give this book to my colleague Ken, because he's one of the few people I know that might be willing to dedicate the time to read it.