This former Poli Sci major absolutely loved this book about whistle stop campaigns in politics. It's an entertaining and fun look at whistle stops over the years during a (mostly) bygone era of politics.

Stories about all of the planning that went into a whistle stop tour, along with stories about what kind of things would go wrong, along with pranksters and hecklers.

The author truly did his research and has the storytelling ability to make it all really interesting.

Recommended to fans of presidential politics and American history.

I really wanted to love this book. The premise and history behind the events is so interesting, but somehow, reading it felt lack luster. It was difficult to stay excited about the content, as the book seemed to fact rattle more than anything else. I wish there would have been some "story" developed so the reader could get excited about following the events. I'm sad to say that I did not enjoy this at all.

The theme of this book was an intriguing one-life aboard a campaign train. However, its execution was a poor one. The book is an amalgam of stories involving campaign trains organized in only the loosest way. The author evidently ran out of material because he branched out into advertising campaigns set on railroad cars, fake campaigns and trips taken by British royalty on trains. I wish he had concentrated on one to two campaigns and had given his story a more coherent telling.

Whistle Stop Politics is an informative and entertaining book about the history of back platform politicking from its inception to modern day. Author Edward Segal gives the reader an entertaining overview of the candidates, the journalists and the trains themselves. For folks like me, a political junkie plus a train buff, this is as good as it gets.

There is a lore and fascination to a presidential candidate’s special train. The author combed through thousands of books, magazine articles and historical videos to compile the story he tells. Entire communities would turn out along the tracks when a candidate’s train made its short stops. They could look at the man and hear his words straight from his mouth. This also presented fodder for the pickpockets of the time. The book is full of anecdotes compiled by the author’s dedication to the subject.

The whistle-stop trains were not confined to politics. Rexall Drug chain had a coast-to-coast convention using this concept. Comedienne Gracie Allen used a special train to entertain her fans when she was a faux candidate running on the “Surprise Party” platform. One of her slogans was: “I may take a drink now and then, but I never get affiliated”. The book points out that the shortest whistle-stop train was the idea of a California State candidate who used the Angle’s Flight funicular which ran about one block up a steep hill in Los Angeles to campaign.

Segal tells of the unscripted remarks, unscheduled stops, hecklers, pranksters and protesters. The book is about candidates going where the voters are. The long haggard days of duty of the journalists and camera men who traveled with the candidate. The wives and family who sometimes had to protect the candidate from overzealous fans.

Overall, this is a fabulous book for anyone interested in the road to the white house. Plus, the how, and why, and where of the campaign train. Thank you to #NetGalley #EdwardSegal and #RockCreekMedia for the ARC of #WhistleStopPolitics.

#AmericanPolitics, #Elections, #Journalism, #Culture, #Trains

For as long as there have been railways, there have been politicians keen to exploit the opportunities offered by the new means of transport to bring their message to as wide an audience as possible. Edward Segal explores the history of this phenomena and its impact on American politics in this long and detailed guide to 180 years of whistlestop campaigns.

I never knew that whistlestops had such an important part of political campaigning. This wonderful book sets the record (or at least mine) straight.