Based on close observation of the actual operation of American political institutions, including political parties and municipal and state governments, this work provides an atlas of American politics and society. It answers to the questions of why great men are not chosen presidents and why the best men do not go into politics in America.

Therefore, as Robert Nisbet has written, 'we still go to Bryce for piquant and cogent answers to the questions of why great men are not chosen presidents and why the best men do not go into politics in America'.