Cengage Advantage Books: American Government and Politics Today, Brief Edition

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY: BRIEF EDITION, 2016-2017, shows you how easily and effectively you can participate in the political process. New features, up-to-date political news and analysis, and a great price make this text a top seller. Praised for its succinct, balanced coverage, clarity, and readability, this book examines all the key concepts of American government, while providing interesting student-oriented features that further convey what active citizenship means.

Table of Contents:
Part I: THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 1. The Democratic Republic. 2. Forging a New Government: The Constitution. 3. Federalism. 4. Civil Liberties. 5. Civil Rights. Part II: THE POLITICS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. 6. Public Opinion, Political Socialization, and the Media. 7. Interest Groups and Political Parties. 8. Campaigns and Elections. Part III: INSTITUTIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 9. The Congress. 10. The Presidency. 11. The Bureaucracy. 12. The Judiciary. Part IV: POLICYMAKING. 13. Domestic and Economic Policy. 14. Foreign Policy. Appendix A: The Declaration of Independence. Appendix B: The Constitution of the United States. Appendix C: Federalist Papers No. 10 and No. 51.

About the Author :
Barbara A. Bardes is professor emerita 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. She returned to the political science department where she held the position of graduate director before retiring. 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, DC, he went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he received a master's degree in economics and a Ph.D. in political science. He arrived at Iowa State in 1979. From 1993 to 2002 he served as 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); American Public Policy: The Contemporary Agenda (with Steven G. Koven and Bert E. Swanson); and Quality Research in Literacy and Science Education: International Perspectives and Gold Standards (with Larry Yore and Brian Hand). 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 has a B.A. from Rollins College and obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York, in public law and government. Dr. Schmidt has published 14 books and over 130 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 known as "Dr. Politics" for his extensive commentary on U.S. politics in U.S. and international media. He is a weekly blogger for Gannett, and comments on CNN en Espanol and Univision as well as WNYC, New York. Dr. Schmidt is on Facebook (SteffenWSchmidt) and Twitter (DrPolitics).