There is a wealth of primary and secondary material about twentieth century American politics on the web, as well as countless scholarly and nonscholarly books about American parties, presidents, campaigns, and elections. 

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS ON THE WEB

Library of Congress.  Extensive searchable online collections of essential documents in American political history.

Scripps Library and Multimedia Archive (Miller Center at the University of Virginia).  Digital audio, video, and textual sources focusing chiefly on the American Presidency.

History Matters (George Washington University). Includes searchable database of  primary documents relating to American local, state, and national party politics and politicians.

The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2004. Online exhibition from the American Museum of the Moving Image.

CONTEMPORARY POLITICS AND COMMENTARY ON THE WEB

The Democratic Party (official website)

The Republican Party (official website)

History News Network.  Putting today's politics in historical context, featuring articles and other commentary by leading political historians.

Political coverage by the Washington Post.  From the people who brought you Woodward and Bernstein, exhaustive coverage of the 2008 race.  Requires (free) login.

Roll Call.  The newspaper of Capitol Hill.

BOOKS

What it Takes: The Road to the White House, by Richard Ben Cramer.  Profiles of the men who ran for the Presidency in 1988. 

Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, by Rick Perlstein. Fascinating and exhaustive account of the origins of modern conservatism and Goldwater's rise.

The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff.  Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize.

Why Americans Hate Politics, by E.J. Dionne.  Perceptive commentary on the state of national politics, still timely nearly 20 years after publication.

A Prayer for the City, by Buzz Bissinger.  How Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell tried to tackle his city's economic and social crises.

Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics, by Thomas and Mary Byrne Edsall.  Analysis by seasoned political journalists of the historical shapers of the modern political landscape.

The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, by Ron Brownstein.  Recent acclaimed work by one of the nation's best political reporters.

All's Fair, by James Carville and Mary Matalin.  Two top political operatives, married to each other but working for opposite sides, give the insiders' view of campaigning and governing.

Have a favorite site or book that isn't on this list?  Students can submit their recommendations of additional resources to momara@u.washington.edu.