Synopses & Reviews
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY: THE ESSENTIALS 2009-2010 EDITION inspires readers to join the exciting process of being active, informed citizens. Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt provide an unbiased and concisely organized overview of this essential subject, updated with complete Election 2008 coverage and wholly redesigned for even greater reader appeal. The text's fundamental theme continues to be the importance of participating in active citizenship. To reinforce this theme, the text emphasizes continual critical thinking about political issues and encourages readers to become involved in the political process. The authors incorporate abundant current examples, including increased coverage of the impact of the Internet and other media, to stimulate learning and excitement.
Synopsis
The best-selling book published for American Government, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY: THE ESSENTIALS 2008 EDITION enables you to experience the excitement that comes from active, informed citizenship. Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt's text is known for providing concise, unbiased, and up-to-date coverage of constitutional, governmental, political, and social structures. Inspiring and captivating, the text's theme is the importance of informed active citizenship. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY: THE ESSENTIALS 2008 EDITION incorporates current examples, the Internet, and other media to stimulate learning and excitement about American government. This truly interactive text gives you more than reading material--it gives you tools to become a good citizen.
About the Author
Barbara A. Bardes is professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Kent State University and her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. She served as a faculty member in political science and dean of Mundelein College at Loyola University of Chicago. In 1993, she was appointed dean of Raymond Walters College of the University of Cincinnati where she served until 2003. Bardes has written articles on public and foreign policy and women and politics. She also has co-authored DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE: WOMEN AND POLITICAL POWER IN 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELS, THINKING ABOUT PUBLIC POLICY, PUBLIC OPINION: MEASURING THE AMERICAN MIND, and AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY.Mack C. Shelley, II, is a professor of political science and statistics at Iowa State University. After receiving his bachelor?s degree from American University in Washington, D.C., he went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he received a master?s degree and a Ph.D. He taught for two years at Mississippi State University prior to arriving at Iowa State in 1979. In 1993, he was elected co-editor of the POLICY STUDIES JOURNAL. Shelley has also published numerous articles, books, and monographs on public policy, including THE PERMANENT MAJORITY: THE CONSERVATIVE COALITION IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS; BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE: A GUIDE TO THE LITERATURE (with William F. Woodman and Brian J. Reichel); and AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY: THE CONTEMPORARY AGENDA (with Steven G. Koven and Bert E. Swanson).Steffen W. Schmidt is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. He grew up in Colombia, South America, and has studied in Colombia, Switzerland, and France. He obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York, in public law and government. Schmidt has published six books and over seventy articles in scholarly journals, and is the recipient of numerous prestigious teaching prizes, including the Amoco Award for Lifetime Career Achievement in Teaching and the Teacher of the Year award. He is a pioneer in the use of Web-based and real-time video courses and is a member of the American Political Science Association?s section on Computers and Multimedia. He is on the editorial board of the POLITICAL SCIENCE EDUCATOR. Schmidt also has a political talk show on WOI radio, where he is known as Dr. Politics.
Table of Contents
Part I: THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 1. The Democratic Republic. 2. The Constitution. 3. Federalism. Part II: CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES. 4. Civil Liberties. 5. Civil Rights. Part III: PEOPLE AND POLITICS. 6. Public Opinion and Political Socialization. 7. Interest Groups. 8. Political Parties. 9. Campaigns, Elections, and the Media. Part IV: POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 10. The Congress. 11. The Presidency. 12. The Bureaucracy. 13. The Judiciary. Part V: PUBLIC POLICY. 14. Domestic and Economic Policy. 15. Foreign and Defense Policy. Appendix A: The Declaration of Independence. Appendix B: How to Read Case Citations and Find Court Decisions. Appendix C: Presidents of the United States. Appendix D: Federalist Papers No. 10, No. 51, and No. 78. Appendix E: Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1900 to the Present. Appendix F: Party Control of Congress, 1900 to the Present. Appendix G: Spanish Equivalents for Important Terms in American Government. Glossary. Index.