The party whips are essential components of the U.S. legislative system, responsible for marshalling party votes and keeping House and Senate party members in line. In The Whips, C. Lawrence Evans offers a comprehensive exploration of coalition building and legislative strategy in the U.S. House and Senate, ranging from the relatively bipartisan, committee-dominated chambers of the 1950s to the highly polarized congresses of the 2000s. In addition to roll call votes and personal interviews with lawmakers and staff, Evans examines the personal papers of dozens of former leaders of the House and Senate, especially former whips. These records allowed Evans to create a database of nearly 1,500 internal leadership polls on hundreds of significant bills across five decades of recent congressional history. The result is a rich and sweeping understanding of congressional party leaders at work. Since the whips provide valuable political intelligence, they are essential to understanding how coalitions are forged and deals are made on Capitol Hill.

The party whips are essential components of the U.S. legislative system, responsible for marshalling party votes and keeping House and Senate party members in line. In The Whips, C. Lawrence Evans offers a comprehensive exploration of coalition building and legislative strategy in the U.S. House and Senate, ranging from the relatively bipartisan, committee-dominated chambers of the 1950s to the highly polarized congresses of the 2000s. In addition to roll call votes and personal interviews with lawmakers and staff, Evans examines the personal papers of dozens of former leaders of the House and Senate, especially former whips. These records allowed Evans to create a database of nearly 1,500 internal leadership polls on hundreds of significant bills across five decades of recent congressional history. The result is a rich and sweeping understanding of congressional party leaders at work. Since the whips provide valuable political intelligence, they are essential to understanding how coalitions are forged and deals are made on Capitol Hill. “This is a superb treatment of an important subject. Every scholar of Congress, every practitioner of congressional politics, and every student, graduate and undergraduate, will learn important lessons about Congress from this book. The book is exceptionally well researched, written with flare, and remarkably comprehensive. The new data brought to bear on important issues is unparalleled in the field.” —Steven Smith, Washington University in St. Louis “Evans provides us with an engaging, well-written, and detailed study of the whip system that sheds new light on congressional coalition-building and intra-party politics. I highly recommend Evans's significant empirical and theoretical contribution to scholars' understanding of congressional party leadership, congressional procedure, members' voting decisions, and the legislative process more generally.” —Kathryn Pearson, University of Minnesota “Some noteworthy advances in the understanding of Congress stem from new theoretical contributions, while others are the result of gathering significant new data. This book scores on both counts. Larry Evans has thought deeply about the roles of party whips and he has also marshalled remarkable empirical evidence to support his contentions. Everyone interested in Congress will want to read this book.” —David Rohde, Duke University

From Lash LaRue to Indiana Jones, the glamour of the bullwhip has excited and fascinated audiences for centuries. Now, Andrew John Conway, an accomplished bullwhip performer and educator, explains exactly how to accomplish those thrilling throws, cracks and patterns. Extensively illustrated with easy-to-follow diagrams, "The Bullwhip Book" is an essential resource for the performer, the hobbyist, and anybody else who's ever been fascinated by the sinuous beauty of the bullwhip.

The Whip is inspired by the true story of a woman, Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (1812-1879) who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man. As a young woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love and had a child. Her husband was lynched and her baby killed. The destruction of her family drove her west to California, dressed as a man, to track down the murder. Charley became a renowned stagecoach driver. She killed a famous outlaw, had a secret love affair, and lived with a housekeeper who, unaware of her true sex, fell in love with her. Charley was the first woman to vote in America (as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville, California.

Whipmaking is the highest refinement of the art of leather braiding. This revised edition introduces another major category of whipsthose made in the Mongol tradition. Braiding details are shown in an extensive selection of photographs that also serve to document the geographic distribution of the whips; their historic use and characteristics are explained in detailed captions. A new chapter describes the evolution of a whip design that became world famous through its association with Hollywood. The whips used by Indiana Jones were all made by the author, David W. Morgan, and the films prompted an immediate revival of interest in whips for performance and sport use.

Ron Edwards was born in Australia in 1930 and brought up in the country where small farmers still plowed with horses and harvested their half acres with sickles and scythes, and larger properties relied on the annual visit of the steam-driven threshing machines. By the 1940s all this had vanished, and Edwards had realized that the country's traditional crafts also were disappearing. He began making drawings and notes of them and published these materials in his native country. How to Make Whips is the American edition of his ninth book. The first section gives instructions for a basic eight-strand whip; the second deals with the making of fine kangaroo hide whips. Other chapters explain the making of bullwhips, snake whips, and whips made from precut lace. Also included are instructions on plaiting names in whips and using plaiting designs for whip handles.

One of the most misunderstood and oft-caricatured jobs in British politics whips are the unseen unsung heroes of the parliamentary system without whom governments would doubtless crumble and legislative business would almost certainly grind to a halt. Whips are shrouded in mystery however often portrayed in the media and by colleagues as a brutish bullying bunch of thugs with a reputation for using blackmail and torture to achieve party discipline and get legislation through the House. How to Be a Government Whip is a frank and light-hearted guide to the forgotten engine room of Parliament perfect for those who aspire to be amongst their ranks as well as those just hoping to avoid them. From the mind-numbing tedium of debates to the dark arts of dealing with rebellious or disaffected members of their 'flock' former whip Helen Jones reveals how they really get business done - and what they say about their colleagues behind the closed door of the Whips' Office.