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Third-Party Matters: Politics, Presidents, and Third Parties in American History. By Donald J. Green. (Westport: Praeger, 2010. x, 185 pp. $34.95, ISBN 978-0-313-36591-1.)
Donald J. Green's Third-Party Matters relies on previously published work to examine thirdparty presidential campaigns, from the Liberty parry ofthe 1840s to Ralph Naders presidential bid in 2000. This is a large span of time, so Green narrows his field to "significant" third parties that met "at least one of three criteria" (p. 2). According to Green, these movements were either spoilers that changed the outcome of a presidential election, presented issues that influenced subsequent politics or policy, or attracted at least 10 percent ofthe popular vote in a presidential contest. Green commences with the Liberty party because, he asserts, it altered the outcome ofthe 1 844 election -...