Richard F. Fenno, Jr. 1926-2020

 
Home Style: House Members in Their Districts, the landmark study of eighteen representatives of Congress in their districts, won the 1979 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Ward and the 1980 D.B. Hardeman Prize. The text presents a coherent picture of what elected house members see when they view their constituencies, and how these perceptions affect their political behavior. During nearly eight years of research the author accompanied eighteen representatives of diverse backgrounds in their districts for a unique "over-the-shoulder" perspective on congressional home style. Professor Fenno's observational approach is enlivened with many examples and lends itself to a readable analysis.

Review of Home Style: House Members in their Districts by Roger H. Davidson. The American Political Science Review, Vol. 73, No. 2. (June, 1979).

In this superb guidebook to the "world of shopping bags," Fenno once again confirms his reputation as one of the best, perhaps the best, scholar of American politics. Quite properly, his book is reminiscent of those ancient explorers' maps, detailed in places but containing large blank spaces marked as "unknown territory." The test of Fenno's perspicacity will be how rapidly, and how fruitfully, his colleagues rush to fill in those voids.