John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck. 2022. The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Reviews: Journal of Economics and Politics, Library Journal, Political Psychology
Podcast discussions: The Ezra Klein Show, Politico Playbook Deep Dive, Democracy Paradox, The New Republic, Offline with Jon Favreau, Heartland Politics, The Odd Years
Sample coverage: Washington Post, Cook Political Report (1, 2), New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times (1, 2), Bloomberg, The Atlantic (1, 2), New York Times, New Yorker
John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavreck. 2018. Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Reviews: Kirkus, American Prospect, Daily Kos, Washington Post (also named “The Most Ominous Book of 2018”), International Journal of Press/Politics, Law and Liberty, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nation, The Forum, Journal of Politics, Congress and the Presidency, American Review of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly
Award: 2019 Richard E. Neustadt Prize for the Best Book on Executive Politics (given by the Presidents and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association)
Podcast discussions: The Ezra Klein Show, Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes, Deconstructed, Write About Now, The Majority Report with Sam Seder, New Books Network, Two Psychologists|Four Beers, Matt Lewis and the News, CBS This Morning
Sample coverage: Washington Post (1, 2, 3), The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg, Vox (1, 2), Slate (1, 2, 3, 4), New York, Politico, Vanity Fair, New York Times (1, 2), Rantt Media, US News, The Economist, Christian Science Monitor, The New Republic
John Sides and Lynn Vavreck. 2013. The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Election. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Slate Best Book of 2013; National Journal Best Book of 2013; Vox Book To Read to Understand the World.
Reviews: Daily Beast, ESPN, Los Angeles Times, New York Review of Books, one sentence in the New York Times Magazine, Real Clear Books, Washington Monthly, Perspectives on Politics, Society, The Forum
John Sides, Daron Shaw, Matt Grossmann, and Keena Lipsitz. 2026. Campaigns and Elections: Rules, Reality, Strategy, Choice (5th edition). New York: W.W. Norton.
This book is an undergraduate textbook on U.S. campaigns and elections. Now in its fifth edition, it includes chapters on topics including: electoral rules; campaign finance; campaign strategy; presidential, congressional, and state and local campaigns; voter turnout and choice.
For more information and instructor resources, see the publisher page for the book.
Daniel J. Hopkins and John Sides (editors). 2015. Political Polarization in American Politics. New York: Bloomsbury.
This book is based on a series of pieces on political polarization originally published at The Monkey Cage. It features short, readable chapters by leading scholars that discuss essential research on polarization, its causes, and its consequences.
You can also find original versions of many of these pieces at The Monkey Cage.
John Sides and Henry Farrell (editors). 2016. The Science of Trump. Washington DC: The Monkey Cage.
This e-book is based on Monkey Cage coverage of the campaign of Donald Trump and was published as the Republican National Convention began. It features scholarly perspectives on such topics as Trump’s views on issues, his relationship to the Republican Party, and the characteristics of his supporters.
JOHN SIDES 