As we wrap up our series on Indo-European origins and spread (one more post coming up on this issue), we thought it timely to repost Martin W. Lewis’s video lectures on the “History and Geography of U.S. Presidential Elections”, a Stanford Continuing Studies course from the Fall 2008.

Lecture 1: the basic principle of political geography; the “red and blue” map of the United States; different ways of mapping U.S. presidential elections; differences in voting behavior between national elections and state and local elections; electoral geography in selected foreign countries

Lecture 2: presidential elections in the United States from 1789 through 1900

Lecture 3: the geographical history of presidential elections in the United States, from the Civil War to the Carter and Reagan administrations

Lecture 4: the geographical history of recent presidential elections in the United States, beginning with 1972 and continuing on to 2004

Lecture 5: the geographical outcomes of the presidential, Senate, and House races in the 2008 election

We are hoping to write a few posts on this year’s elections — stay tuned!

Asya & Martin