Outre Mer by Paul Bourget http://books.google.com/books?id=5lQTAAAAYAAJ http://books.google.com/books?id=5lQTAAAAYAAJ It is the account of a French man traveli

Outre Mer by Paul Bourget http://books.google.com/books?id=5lQTAAAAYAAJ http://books.google.com/books?id=5lQTAAAAYAAJ It is the account of a French man traveling around the United States in the 1890's It's not about organizations so much, but is a wonderful book about the general life of the times. It is the closest thing I have found to a time machine that let's you experience turn of the century America. Democracy and the Party System in the United States: A study in extra constitutional government (1910) by Moisei Ostrogorski http://books.google.com/books?id=HmkPAAAAYAAJ&dq=democracy%20and%20the%20american%20party%20system%20in%20the%20united%20states%20harvard&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=HmkPAAAAYAAJ&dq=democra... This is a very colorful political history of the United States. A lot of information about how the democratic institutions worked in practiced and evolved away from their formal and intended structures. Definitely a great antidote to the traditional civics class view of American democracy.