Matthew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg

Presidential Power

Unchecked and Unbalanced

A new history and evaluation of the "imperial presidency."

Recent presidents have exploited the power of the American presidency more fully than their predecessors—and with greater consequence than the framers of the Constitution anticipated.

This book, in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger's great work The Imperial Presidency (1973), explores how American presidents—especially those of the past three decades—have increased the power of the presidency at the expense of democracy. Matthew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg provide a fascinating history of this trend, showing that the expansion of presidential power dates back over one hundred years. Presidential Power also looks beyond the president's actions in the realm of foreign policy to consider other, more hidden, means that presidents have used to institutionalize the power of the executive branch.


Matthew Crenson is professor of political science at the Johns Hopkins University. Benjamin Ginsberg is the David Bernstein Professor of Political Science and director of the Center for the Study of American Government at the Johns Hopkins University.
Presidential Power book jacket


April 2007 / hardcover / ISBN 978-0-393-06488-9
6" x 9" / 416 pages / History
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