Ernest Gruening and the American Dissenting Tradition

“Johnson studies Gruening’s long career as a dissenter, which began in 1921 when he ardently opposed keeping American marines in Haiti… Johnson is sensitive to Gruening’s principles but remains clear-eyed about both the policy issues and his subject’s less likeable traits. The book proves how the U. S. Senate can be the ideal perch for mavericks and dissenters outside the political mainstream who want to retain a public voice. A model for how to write a congressional biography.”—Foreign Affairs

“There’s no question that Ernest Gruening deserves a biography, [and] there’s no question that Johnson has written a fine, penetrating life of Gruening. ‘Definitive’ is a word most of us shy away from, but Johnson has written so well, so comprehensively, and so understandingly about Gruening that it doesn’t seem likely that another biography will be needed… A fine work. The research is really impressive. It’s clear, interesting, well-done.”—John Milton Cooper, Jr., University of Wisconsin–Madison