University of Virginia Library

This is a story of high order. By its scope and strength it deserves to be spoken of as a novel—and that word has been very much abused by hanging it to any old thing. It is a wonderfully good and interesting account of the workings of politics from before the primaries on through election, with a splendid love story also woven into it.

One would think for instance, that it would be impossible to give an account of a “primary” and keep it interesting; it is natural to suppose a writer would become entangled with the dull routine of it all, but he does not, he makes at interesting. He shows the tricks, the heat, the passion, the tumult; the weariness and stubborness of a dead lock. The descriptions of society life in the book are equally good.