Old Tip Vs. the Sly Fox

Richard J. Ellis is Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics, Policy, Law, and Ethics at Willamette University. His many books include The Development of the American Presidency (Third Edition), Historian in Chief: How Presidents Interpret the Past to Shape the Future (as coeditor), and, from Kansas, Presidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Although often referenced as the first modern presidential campaign, the 1840 presidential election has rarely been examined in a comprehensive fashion. Richard J. Ellis has remedied this oversight by providing the first modern scholarly study of the 'Log Cabin and Hard Cider' campaign. This book is essential for anyone attempting to understand the presidential politics of the Jacksonian era and its modern-day influence." - Mark R. Cheathem, professor of history at Cumberland University, project director of the Papers of Martin Van Buren, and author of The Coming of Democracy: Presidential Campaigning in the Age of Jackson"Combining tales of rivalry, rumor, and intrigue with careful analysis of voting returns and grassroots politics, this finely conceived and highly readable book establishes beyond doubt that the 1840 election was not simply a rollicking carnival of log cabins and scurrilous personality politics but also a serious conflict of issues and policies arising out of a disastrous nationwide economic downturn." - Donald Ratcliffe, author of The One-Party Presidential Contest: Adams, Jackson, and 1824's Five-Horse Race"The 1840 'Log Cabin and Hard Cider' presidential campaign is famous for all the wrong reasons. In Old Tip vs. the Sly Fox, historian Richard J. Ellis carefully peels away the legend of a colorful but mindless contest to reveal the true story of how and why William Henry Harrison secured the Whig Party nomination and defeated incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren for the presidency. Attending especially to voting patterns in states and localities, Ellis has produced what is now the standard account of this consequential yet often misunderstood election." - Daniel M. Feller, professor of history and director of the Papers of Andrew Jackson, University of Tennessee Knoxville