National Perspective: We still are examining ‘The Making of the President’

The best way to view the 2024 presidential election and to understand the dramatic transformation of American political history may not be to focus on Tuesday's debate, the news of the day or even the cascade of books about the composition of the modern Democratic Party or the phenomenon of Donald Trump. It may instead be to pick up a copy of a 63-year-old book that you can find on the internet for about the price of this newspaper — or search for it in your local library, if it hasn't been shipped out to a storage annex or donated to a summertime sidewalk used-book sale.

Theodore H. White's "The Making of the President 1960," now almost two-thirds of a century old, remains a reliable guide to presidential politics — about how the process works and about how it has changed. It was the first book I purchased with my own money, at age 12 at the Shaw Junior High School book fair in Swampscott, Mass. It's the only book I have read three times — including this summer.