Building a Business of Politics

<p>Political races in the United States rely heavily on highly paid political consultants. In <em>Building a Business of Politics</em> Adam Sheingate traces the history of political consultants from its origins in the publicity experts and pollsters of the 1920s and 1930s to the strategists and media specialists of the 1970s who transformed political campaigns into a highly profitable business. Today consultants command a hefty fee from politicians as they turn campaign cash from special interest groups and wealthy donors into the advertisements polls and direct mail solicitations characteristic of modern campaigns. The implications of this system on the state of American democracy are significant: a professional political class stands between the voters and those who claim to represent them. <em>Building a Business of Politics </em>is both a definitive account of the consulting profession and a powerful reinterpretation of how political professionals reshaped American democracy in the modern era.</p>