"This interesting and timely book empirically assesses the dangers presented to American democracy by partisan hostility or animosity and ideological polarization." * Choice * "Partisan Hostility and American Democracy explores the degree to which hostility affects political beliefs and behaviors, promoting the view that while partisan animosity is unlikely to directly lead to democratic breakdown or collapse, it does have deleterious effects on democracy that could contribute to erosion over time." * Journal of Economic Literature * The growing divide between Democrats and Republicans has sparked hundreds of academic papers and books documenting the damaging effects of affective polarization on both the quality of governance and the social fabric of political life in the United States. In this abundance of literature, Partisan Hostility and American Democracy stands out. The authors provide a comprehensive and, more importantly, nuanced account of how the rise in partisan hostilityidentity-driven divisions between the political partiesshapes Americans perceptions of the political world, including their support for public figures and policies, political compromise, as well as democratic norms and practices. * Political Science Quarterly * "Partisan Hostility and American Democracy [ cites] studies on affective polarization showing that the gap between the positive feelings toward ones own party and the negative feelings for the other party has grown in the past 20 years." * Perspectives on Political Science * Timely and rich, this is the best book yet written on partisan animosity in the United States. Harnessing impressive data, the authors convincingly show the powerful role of elected officials in magnifying tensions in the citizenry. -- Sean J. Westwood | Dartmouth College Although there's been extensive documentation of the existence of partisan animosity and affective polarization, there's been little research attempting to understand whether this behavior affects democratic governance. Through extensive data collection and rigorous research design, the authors show that partisan animosity won't lead to immediate democratic collapse but instead can lead to long-term erosion of norms. -- Neil Malhotra | Stanford University