About the Author

Michael. F. Holt is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia and author of five previous books, including The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party and, most recently, The Fate of Their Country: Politicians, Slavery Extension, and the Coming of the Civil War.

Reviews

"The most comprehensive account to date of the presidential election that effectively ended Reconstruction and in some ways foreshadowed another disputed contest a century and a quarter later."--Journal of American History"A richly textured account interwoven with manifold insights regarding political motive and maneuver. Holt's fellow antebellum historians will recognize the hand of the master at work here, while specialists in late nineteenth-century politics will welcome his provocative, sometimes controversial, analyses."--Reviews in American History"All students of U.S. political history will want to read this book. Recommended. All levels/libraries."--Choice"Holt uses great writing amid terse exposition of exceedingly complex procedural issues to tease out explanation and meaning. . . . An outstanding contribution."--H-Net Reviews

"A marvelous example of Michael Holt's brand of political history, By One Vote is rich in the details of political maneuver, but also full of fresh and provocative insights."--Michael Perman, author of The Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1869-1879"Holt uncovers what really happened in the 1876 election and provides a clear window on the ambiguity of America's political process, an ambiguity still unresolved in today's America."--Heather Cox Richardson, author of The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901"A first rate accomplishment by a superb scholar."--Joel H. Silbey, author of The American Political Nation, 1838-1893